There’s a town, not too far away from me, called Satsuma. I thought I’d start off by mentioning that. It’s a pretty lame town, and I guess I don’t really want to talk about it. So.

Satsumas are pretty popular in most areas of the country right now, in fact, I remember reading a somewhat recent article about them listing in a rank of ‘trending foods’. It seems that the worthy fruit hasn’t  been in the public consciousness long, at least not outside it’s growing range, and I’m going to go ahead and put on my hipster glasses and say that I’ve been into satsumas waaay before they got popular.

If you haven’t had a satsuma, and are still struggling day in and day out to peel oranges, I would have to recommend you find your nearest satsuma dealer and rectify the situation.

A satsuma is a citrus fruit, related to the mandarin, usually smaller than an orange (some varieties get pretty massive, though), but bigger than a tangerine. Unlike tangerines, however, it doesn’t have that strange off-flavor that I find so unappealing.

They are sweet, ridiculously juicy, and completely seedless. The fact that the skin falls off in such an easy, silky smooth fashion is icing on the cake. King of citrus. Hands down. No contest. I honestly don’t understand why anyone eats any other citrus. Except maybe grapefruit, which has an awesomeness all of it’s own.

Anyway, I’m sad because our satsuma trees are nearly done fruiting, and we’ve eaten or juiced most of them in a depressingly short period of time.  It’s pretty neat to be able to pluck one off the tree whenever I pass it, and partake of it’s juiciness en route from the house to the garden.

They are pretty easy to grow, and can be grown in places too cold for other citrus. I don’t know what the exact temperatures it’s supposed to withstand, but we’ve gotten in the upper teens/low twenties since I’ve had it planted. While they die back a good deal the next spring, the tree is still plenty healthy and produces a ton of fruit all the same. A few years ago I would cover the trees with dropcloths when the temperature dipped, but I never do that anymore, and haven’t suffered for it.

There are many different varieties, we have Owari and Armstrong, and they are both good. I really couldn’t recommend one over the other, in fact I can’t even remember which is which any more (pro-tip: write down what you plant where- tags wither and die).

So. Moral of this post: Go buy satsumas. Go plant a satsuma tree. Tell your friends about satsumas. This is an awesome fruit that deserves more recognition!