Seedy clementines.

January 2, 2007 3:36 PM

Botany filter: Is there anyway to guarantee that the clementines I buy will be seedless? I read on wikipedia that the loss of the seedless characteristics happen when bees cross-pollinate them with other fruit. So, other than raising my own clemintines in a bee-free zone, anyone have any suggestions?
posted by zackola to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

all commercial citrus are clones - a scion (taken from a seedless mother plant) is grafted onto a rootstock.

Citrus is not commercially grown from seeds.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 3:53 PM on January 2, 2007

Sample the box? There's a stamp on the side of each box that specifies what farm and what lot they are from.
posted by furtive at 5:13 PM on January 2, 2007

#zackola: other than raising my own clemintines in a bee-free zone

What is this article that you are responding to? please give a link.

A flower that is not polinated (by bees or otherwise) will never develop into a fruit. Humans have been able to breed and select plants so that the fruits they grow after pollination develop defective seeds (e.g. really small or soft).

If an orchard of cloned seedless clementines is near some other citrus then it is possible that bees might bring in the wrong pollen and that pollen might be close enough to work and cause the fruit to develop with noticeable seeds.

I'm sure most Clementine orchards are trying to destroy all citrus within a bee-flight.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 7:08 PM on January 2, 2007

While the trees are certainly clones, I think that the OP means that the flowers producing the clementines were pollinated, leading to seeds. I don't know, but it sounds like the trees aren't self-fertile, but will produce seeds if knocked up by another variety. Sort of like the occasional egg that comes with a free baby chicken.
Maybe you need a clementine-candling device, or a fruit x-ray.
posted by pullayup at 7:10 PM on January 2, 2007

Oops, I meant cross-polinated.
posted by pullayup at 7:11 PM on January 2, 2007

Short answer- no. Citrus doesn't make fruit very well without bees. There are no guarantees that the bees pollinating a crop of clementines will not have pollen from other citrus; even a random flowering spur from the rootstock that the clementines are grafted onto could cause seeded fruit. So you may be able to meet a grower at a farmer's market that can tell you that there are no other citrus that they know of near their clementine groves, but they won't make any guarantees of seedlessness. Honeybees will commonly forage up to a km. away from their hives in agricultural areas, and have been recorded as occasionally foraging as far away as 10km. There's just no way to know for sure that the fruit will be absolutely seedless.
posted by oneirodynia at 7:49 PM on January 2, 2007

Best answer: "• According to the Mandarin Madness website, seedless fruit commands a higher price in the market. It is sold as "seedless" if fruit contains fewer than three seeds. If seed count is higher the fruit is down-graded."

I wonder how they tell how many seeds are in it?

Are you saying you've bought the fruit labelled as seedless, and it has had a lot of seeds? If you're not buying fruit that it labelled as seedless, try that...
posted by jesirose at 8:55 PM on January 2, 2007

Did you know that you can spit the seeds out? It's true.
posted by Deathalicious at 1:02 AM on January 3, 2007

Sorry--that didn't fall under the "helpful answer" category.

I would say that in my experience, if it says "Seedless", it is. If it doesn't, it isn't. I personally don't mind the seeds and think that seedless versions taste a wee-bit weirded than the seeded ones, although that may be a flight of fancy.

If you're eating them, having to spit them out is not that huge of a risk. For all other purposes (i.e. cooking) you will probably be cutting the clementines, at which point the seeds will pretty much fly out, as they tend not to stick in clementines as obstinately as they do in normal seedy oranges. I say buy the crate marked "seedless" and hope for the best. If seeds in your oranges are your worst problem you are indeed a blessed individual.
posted by Deathalicious at 1:06 AM on January 3, 2007

Response by poster: Thank you all.

The article I originally read about the cross-pollination causing loss of seedless characteristics is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clementine

One article about citrus growers trying to control the bee/citrus interaction is here:

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/breaking_news/16176598.htm

I will have to check later whether the Clementines I purchased were marked as seedless. I think that my initial confusion may have come around because I thought all Clementines were genetically seedless. I will pay attention to whether they are marked seedless next time and post back to let everyone know how it goes.

My girlfriend thinks I am a freak because I have gone through all this trouble instead of just spitting out the seeds so I do understand your initial comment Deathalicious.

Thanks to all.
posted by zackola at 9:32 AM on January 3, 2007

Clementine and Satsuma mandarin oranges are my favorite. I buy 1-2 boxes per week during the season. I love them for their flavor, but also because they are so easy to peel and...they have very few seeds. I would imagine that a supermarket produce manager would let you sample from their current offering with no hassle. You might even get them to call you when a good batch arrives.

This year the Satsumas are larger than last and much sweeter, the Clementines however have been disappointingly less juicy. When I find a really good box of fruit I will try to get back to the same market for another asap!
posted by SMELLSLIKEFUN at 10:27 AM on January 3, 2007