Ask Professor Produce - A Citrus 2005 Primer

Will the Satsumas hold out? If so, how much longer?

Rick Christianson, our head buyer at Co-op Partners' Warehouse, says that the days are numbered for the beloved Satsuma mandarin. By the time you read this, they may already have vanished. "Biodynamic satsumas from Beck Grove in San Diego County ought to extend the season by a few more weeks," into late January, "but the Johansen Ranch Satsumas are just about done."

Very sad indeed.

What about Clementines and other citrus?

Due to the rainy weather in California this January, says Rick, availability of citrus from the desert regions may be spotty. "We may be short on Clementines from time to time," said Rick.

"The real problem with growing in the desert is the clay, not the sand," explains Rick. "It may not rain much, but when it does, it gets very slick. Almost greasy. You take your life in your hands driving on the roads in a rainy desert." As a result of the heavy rain this winter, citrus and hardy greens may be hard to come by in February, since it's so difficult to move harvesting machines under these conditions. Watch for spotty availability and higher prices for both greens and desert-grown citrus.

Has the citrus season been a good one over-all?

Minneolas are often a good precursor to the season, giving Produce Buyers like Rick a forecast of the season to come. "The California Minneolas are ok, but not impressive," says Rick, referring to the availability. "But they're starting well and they'll run hard till April, so that's good."

"The quality is not bad, and that's a relief. No one will buy them all season if they start out bad. But this year they started well. The Brix in the Mexican [Minneolas] is good," he said, referring to the Brix count, the scale by which fruit growers measure sugar in their products.

"Navels are peaking right now [early January] with big Brix. California is in trouble, though. The last storm one of our growers had half his oranges fall off. So much rain falls that the fruit gets bigger and bigger. They get so big that the tree can't handle the weight. Sometimes the sugar is diluted in this case. So the stuff out of Mexico is sweeter right now than the stuff out of California.

"Blood oranges should be coming soon," said Rick, "and it should be a decent crop, which doesn't make sense," he said, referring to all the other troubles that California citrus products are having this season. "Kumquats and Pixie tangerines should be coming in late January, or early February."

What about grapefruit?

"Florida and Texas will continue to bring us great grapefruit, but Florida will be touch and go," said Rick, referring to the spotty availability of Florida grapefruit on the wake of this autumn's hurricanes. "We want to support [our main organic citrus grower] Rosslowe. His grapefruit are cutting red as [Texas] Rio Stars. That's great. Very pretty. Current prices are probably as low as we'll go - depending on availability. Sometimes you have growers holding back their fruit until they see what happens to the market."

Meyer lemons might be in till mid-February, said Rick. A biodynamic Navel orange from Marian Farms should be around in early February. "Marian Farms fruit is always good to see - they do such a good job," said Rick.