As we all know, the mandarin oranges are of the most important fruits during Chinese New Year. This seasonal fruit is mostly available between mid-winter and mid-spring which is exactly when the Chinese New Year takes place.
Their round shape and bright golden colour of the fruit are considered auspicious, and symbolizes wealth and good fortune. This is why it is often given to family and friends as a way of wishing them luck, wealth and good fortune.
Since most of the time, mandarin oranges are bought in huge quantities, it is important to choose the perfect ones so that you don't end up giving your guests dried up or weird tasting fruits.
So, here are the most important tips to choose the sweetest, juiciest mandarin oranges:
#1 Colour
When picking a mandarin orange, take note that the brightly colored orange ones with no blemishes or brown spots are the one that taste the sweetest!
#2 Ripeness
If you like your mandarin oranges sour for some reason, then your should choose the ones that are not too ripe. However, if you're aiming for something more sweet and juicy then you want to pick the ripe ones.
#3 Date of import
If you buy mandarin oranges much more earlier before CNY, then you should know that you will probably get a less ripe ones. Buying closer to CNY dates will probably get you a batch that was imported slightly later and which will ripen beautifully and on time, making them perfect to eat on CNY.
#4 Type of mandarin orange
According to local mandarin orange farm owners, the most best-selling mandarin orange is the Lukan. This type of mandarin orange are easy to peel and known for their sweetness. They also come in three sizes, S,M and L.
#5 Condition of box
If you are buying by the box and are unable to open the box and look at the colours, then you want to check the condition of the box. If it is a little wet or damp, then it could mean that there are some rotten oranges inside, so don't get the wet boxes!
#6 Rigidness
If you get to select one by one, softly squish it in ur hand, feel the rigidness. A fresh one tends to be more plump, while a bad one feels lumpy. If you don't know which is plump or lumpy, just try to squeeze a few and you'll know. But do it really softly, you don't want to squeeze until it turns bad.
You can also squeeze the bottom part to see if the skin is thick or thin, oranges with thin skin tend to be softer.
#7 The "butt" & The "head"
Opposite from selecting orange, a bigger "butt" tends to be sweeter in mandarin, while small "butt" is said to be sour. In terms of "head" if it "pops" out, that means the skin is thicker.
