A rare species that is hard to cultivate
Have you heard of the name Kara Mandarine? This fruit called ”Kara” is a rare variety of citrus that is only rarely cultivated in the world.
It is a variety that was introduced by Dr, Floyd from the USA in 1935 and was a cross between ”Owarikei Satsuma Mikan” and ”King Mandarin”.
It was introduced to Japan in 1955. It is hard to cultivate and did not succeed to be commercialized in the USA however, after a long research, they stated to cultivate commercially, though small quantity, in Japan.
The sweetness that matures on the tree
There are two main characteristics. One is the taste. It takes about one whole year for Kara Mandarine to grow from small fruit to harvest on a tree. Therefore, it can collect all the nutrients in the fruit and the sugar content is very high. You will be surprised that it is much more sweeter than mikan.
The other characteristic is that the harvest season is very late. When you think about mandarine, you will imagine eating on the heated table during winter. But the harvest season for Kara Mandarine is between April to May. Amongst the citrus family, this is the latest harvest season.
At a glance, it looks like orange with hard peel, but in fact it is easy to peel with your hands. And once you bite into it, it is sweet as mikan. There are many varieties in oranges and mikan, but to present the finale is Kara Mandarine. We recommend you will try this once.
