Gold Nugget Mandrin

[kingoceanos]

Sadly disappointed with the gold nugget sold at my local grocer here in Texas. Perhaps they were picked early by (Sunkist) and stayed in a cooler before arriving here in Texas. I have read so many wonderful reviews about them and payed top dollar for the fruit here. Is there a difference between the ones I've read about on-line and the ones sold by Sunkist?

[brian]

Mandarins/Clementines from the store seem to be extremely unreliable.  I've had a few bags of golden nuggets that were bad -  stringy and dry with no tartness - and some bags that were amazing.  Overall I end up throwing away at least half of the fruit I buy as soon as I get it because of this, it's a huge waste.  It's a shame they don't let you sample it before purchase.  This is part of the reason I started growing my own.

[Tom]

Brian, I agree with you completely. I must note that I think you will still be disappointed some years anyway. I guess it like grapes. Some years are just better than others. Too many variables. Tom

[Riverland]

We tend to overlook the effect of the packing house.
It has been proven that citrus taste far superior before they enter the packing house, than when they exit.
All that bumping around, whilst washing, waxing and heating effect the flavour. Not to mention the time spent off the tree before it reaches you at the store.
Perhaps GN is one of those varieties that doesn't hold up to the rigors of modern handling as well as other varieties.

[Bush2Beach]

We tend to overlook the effect of the packing house.
It has been proven that citrus taste far superior before they enter the packing house, than when they exit.
All that bumping around, whilst washing, waxing and heating effect the flavour. Not to mention the time spent off the tree before it reaches you at the store.
Perhaps GN is one of those varieties that doesn't hold up to the rigors of modern handling as well as other varieties.

Very true. I'm thankfully for the plethora of local farmers markets which bring the goods from field to market quickly. The first weeks fruits are ripening there is very little storage and it's as farm fresh as it gets. It's hard to wait until April for Gold Nuggets here. I foolishly picked mine in late February because they were completely orange but they weren't full flavored yet.

Perfect Gold nugget pictured with Moro blood orange

[kingoceanos]

I have to admit the ones in your photo look much better than the ones I bought. The ones I got had pale inner flesh and some were dry while the few that were juicy had very little flavor at all.

[sugar land dave]

We tend to overlook the effect of the packing house.
It has been proven that citrus taste far superior before they enter the packing house, than when they exit.
All that bumping around, whilst washing, waxing and heating effect the flavour. Not to mention the time spent off the tree before it reaches you at the store.
Perhaps GN is one of those varieties that doesn't hold up to the rigors of modern handling as well as other varieties.

Very true. I'm thankfully for the plethora of local farmers markets which bring the goods from field to market quickly. The first weeks fruits are ripening there is very little storage and it's as farm fresh as it gets. It's hard to wait until April for Gold Nuggets here. I foolishly picked mine in late February because they were completely orange but they weren't full flavored yet.

I agree that with some fruit it is easy to pick too soon.  I still have some Rio Red grapefruit on my tree and they taste much sweeter than those picked early in the season.