A clementine is a small citrus fruit. The exterior is a deep orange color with a smooth, glossy appearance. The fruit’s tough leathery skin is easy to peel, like a tangerine. The peel contains volatile oil glands, so you can get a sweet, citrus smell when you break into the peel to remove it.

Inside the fruit is separated into 8 to 14 juicy segments called carpels. Clementines are almost always seedless.

Clementines lose their desirable seedless characteristics if bees cross pollinate them with other fruits.

Father Clement Rodier is said to have discovered the hybrid by accident in the garden of his orphanage in Misserghin, Algeria. However, there are claims it originated much earlier in China.

Due to their availability from mid November through January, the Clementine is often know as the “Christmas Orange.”

Spain is the major producer and exporter of clementines. California crops are prolific from late fall through January.

In a cavern, in a canyon, Excavating for a mine Dwelt a miner forty-niner, And his daughter 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, Wearing 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 the 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

REFERENCES rosemary-syrup-3.jpg Children’s Literature: Clementine – Author Sara Pennypacker Clementine’s Letters – Author Sara Pennypacker The Talented Clementine – Author Sara Pennypacker