Sumo Tangerines {What Is It Wednesday}

I am so glad that you all are excited about What Is It Wednesday coming back. I am really looking forward to sharing new foods with all of you.

Last week’s item ended up being a little bit of a hard one. Which I actually like. Not that I am trying to find things that are hard to guess, but when I share an item that only a few readers know about, it means that I am helping the rest of you learn something new. And that is exactly what I want to do with What Is It Wednesdays.

Last week quite a few of you guessed tangelo or Ugli for the item, but a couple of you guessed Sumo Tangerine. Sumo Tangerine is exactly what it is. So if you guessed Sumo Tangerine you got it right.

Now most of you are probably wondering what a Sumo Tangerine is and when I bought this I was wondering the same thing. Thanks to a simple Google search I was able to find out exactly what they are.

According to the Sumo Citrus website Sumo Tangerines were developed in the 1970’s when a citrus grower from Japan set out to develop a fruit which would combine the best of the easy-to-peel Japanese Satsuma with the big, juicy, sweet oranges from California.

And although I have never had a Japanese Satsuma, I think he got these just right. They are big, juicy, sweet, have great texture, and are easy to peel.

Sumo Tangerines are now grown on farms in central California and are available in the US. I will say though that they are a bit more expensive than most citrus. Hopefully though the more popular they become the less expensive they will be.

The Sumo Tangerines got mixed reviews from my family.

I absolutely loved them and will buy them again. Overall I am not a huge fan of citrus. I like it occasionally and I will eat it here and there, but I don’t think I have ever eaten an entire orange by myself. Most citrus is one of those things I can take it or leave it. Except lemons. I love anything lemon. But when it comes to oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, etc. I am not usually a fan.

These however I loved! They were so much sweeter than most other citrus. They were also very juicy and I thought the texture was great. I could easily eat several of these in one sitting all by myself. Most of my family felt the same way.

My daughter though, who is a huge citrus lover, and loves sour things, did not like these at all. She said they were too sweet and too juicy, and she would much rather eat an orange or some other citrus that did not cost as much.

So I think if you are like me, and are not a huge citrus fan, then I think you will probably like Sumo Tangerines. If you are like my daughter and like your citrus tart and strong, these are worth trying, but you might agree with my daughter and prefer an orange.

For those of you that have had Sumo Tangerines I would love to hear what you thought of them. Did you like them? 

What Is It Wednesday is a series that I started back in 2011 as a way to encourage my family to try new things. It also became a fun way to share new and unusual foods with my readers. So each week I share a new food that my family tried, how we liked it, and how I cooked it. I also often ask you to guess what it is and then the next week I follow up with the correct answer.