Yum-look what I had with my breakfast this morning!  What a beautiful juicy satsuma.

 “Satsuma [sat-SOO-muh]  – A loose-skinned orange, it is a type of seedless mandarin orange with thin skin. In most citrus producing areas, satsuma mandarin is the preferred name, but satsuma tangerine is also used. The fruit from a young tree averages 1.8 inches in diameter, approximately three-quarters the size of a tennis ball. With its smooth, thin, lightly attached skin, satsumas have become known as the “kid-glove or zipper-skin citrus” due to the ease with which the skin can be removed and internal segments separated. Depending on the weather and climate conditions, the fruit is harvested in the early to mid-fall. The fruit is juicy and very sweet, low in acid, and almost seedless, with an average of only 1.5 seeds per orange” (from What’s Cooking in America).

A description in Cooking Light suggests that “Satsumas have that perfect balance of sweet and tart, with a rounded flavor and a great acid edge and they just melt in your mouth.” Choose fruit over sugared fruit juices.

Solid fruit will satisfy your hunger more and you will be getting fiber also.  If you do want juice, read the label and look for 100% juice that is not from concentrate and dilute it with half water to reduce the calories. I purchased a 5-pound bag of 20 of these beauties at Safeway for $7.99.  That is a little less than 40 cents a satsuma with 9 grams of natural sugar and a lot of Vitamin C.  Do the math and just cut out a few grande blended coffee drinks!