The day I discovered clementines may well have been the highlight of my culinary life.

(And, btw Abigail, I was introduced to clementines in Minneapolis.)

But...you have to be careful, because passing off (at least in Denver) California tangeloes as clementines. You have to read the fine print on the side of the box to make sure you are getting Spanish (or, in the summer, South American) clems.

I think Clementines have grown is such popularity because they are easy to peal, section and have no pips: a near perfect snack fruit. Their only short coming is their diminutive size. Get a Clementine the size of a naval orange and there be perfection. (Naval oranges have pips and thus loose marks.)

Bucky - I was living in Toronto in about '83 and had my first clementine. For some reason no one could explain, Cunucks have been eating them for years and never told their southern neighbours. I brought a couple crates to Balto for Christmas and you would have thought I had arrived with pots of gold. For years eveyone looking forward to my xmas visits. Not for me, but for the fruit.

Kitkat - I wonder if the citrus growers might not have had a hand in that. I assume Canada doesn't have a big citrus growers lobby.

In our house citrus is a must in the toe of the Christmas stockings. Fat oranges are the fruit of choice, but a (fresh!) clementine will do in a pinch.

When I was growing up, the tradition in my family, as well as my husband's family, was to put a tangerine in the toe of the stocking.
We started doing that when our kids were little. However, after a few years they announced that they didn't like tangerines.
We now give them each a Terry chocolate orange in their stocking.
Same tradition, just altered a bit.

Bucky, yeah, I know they don't grow citrus in CA but WHY would CA have clementines before the US. Mom always thought I moved to the outback. Wow was she suprised that CA is more advanced (in some ways) then the US. Love being a US citizen, but love living in CA. And loved living in CO

Bucky - Sorry for the typos.

Dahlink. We also got fruit in our stockings. They were tangarines with the nasty seeds. Still yummy. Send my avacodos. LOL

RTSO - what do you mean by pips?

Mmmmm....Clementines.

Kitkat asked: WHY would CA have clementines before the US

My guess--I didn't say it very well--is that US citrus growers somehow blocked the import of clementines, to protect the citrus industry here. But Canada, having no citus industry, gladly imported the jewel of all citrus, the clementine.

I don't know this for a fact. I'm just surmising here.

Yay clementines! Small, easy to peel, not too much white stuff to deal with when you peel them, and super delicious.

Anyone realize how dark the original song is:

In a cavern, in a canyon,
Excavating for a mine
Dwelt a miner forty niner,
And his darling Clementine.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Light she was and like a fairy,
And her shoes were number nine,
Herring boxes, without topses,
Sandals were for Clementine.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Drove she ducklings to the water
Ev'ry morning just at nine,
Hit her foot against a splinter,
Fell into the foaming brine.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Ruby lips above the water,
Blowing bubbles, soft and fine,
But, alas, I was no swimmer,
So I lost my Clementine.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

How I missed her! How I missed her,
How I missed my Clementine,
But I kissed her little sister,
I forgot my Clementine.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

I prefer the Tom Lehrer version of Clementine.

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out...

Dahlink, we grew up getting citrus in the stocking toe, too. My mother was a child of the depression who some years only got that orange. Even as an adult, she had no idea where they came from, since no one she knew ever saw one other than Christmas morning. I continued the tradition with my kids who used o offer to feign thrilled if I'd spare them the stories of my mother's meager Christmases. (Welcome to the economy, kids)

Bucky - brillant. Never thought of that. You are probably right.

Bourbon Girl --
The seeds in an orange are called "pips". See the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Five Orange Pips".

Ms BG, sorry, I late with my morning reading and the kindly jjk answered before I even began reading.

And as you can see, my words were even later than my eyes getting going this morning.

Cosmo Girl, my son and I love those Terry oranges! The problem we both have with them is "portion control" - we eat them like you eat a real orange one slice at a time til all gone. Some of us just don't know when to say when!

Speaking of Sherlock Homes, those stories are full of good eating references. One of my favorites is in "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches" where the sinister employer Mr. Rucastle introduces the young governess to his mastiff, saying, "We feed him once a day, and not too much then, so that he is always as keen as mustard".

Main Entry:
4pip
Function: nnoun
Etymology:short for pippin
Date:1797
1: a small fruit seed ; especially : one of a several-seeded fleshy fruit
2: one extraordinary of its kind