SUPER TREAT: Dark Chocolate Dipped Satsuma

Dark Chocolate Dipped Satsuma

These are a special treat only available during Nov-Jan. They are sweeter than a Clementine and also have no seeds. I first had the dipped Satsuma’s while visiting with friends for thanksgiving.

First we pealed the Satsuma’s and separated the wedges, trimming off any extra white rind and set them aside.

On a clean cool surface place a slice of parchment paper.

Melt the dark chocolate, about a 70% coca, in a small double boiler until the chocolate was thick but smooth.

Dip each wedge about ½ way into the chocolate and quickly place on parchment, standing up in the chocolate, until the batch is done and cool in the fridge for at least one hour.

Once the chocolate is set/cold – try one – the burst of orange juice followed by the slow melt of the chocolate is an irresistible combination. No way you can eat just one!

They do not travel well and last only a few days, if you don’t eat them all. They make a great desert or treat anytime of the day.

More on the Satsuma:

Satsuma [sat-SOO-muh] - A loose-skinned orange, it is a type of seedless mandarin orange with thin skin. In most citrus producing areas, satsuma mandarin is the preferred name, but satsuma tangerine is also used.

Grown in cool subtropical regions of Japan, Spain, central China, Korea, Turkey, along the Black Sea in Russia, southern South Africa, South America, and on a small scale in central California and northern Florida. The world's largest satsuma industry is located in southern Japan where climatic conditions are favorable for the production of early ripening satsuma tangerines of high quality. In the United States, it is grown mostly in the southernmost parishes of Louisiana.

The fruit from a young tree averages 1.8 inches in diameter, approximately three-quarters the size of a tennis ball. With its smooth, thin, lightly attached skin, satsumas have become known as the "kid-glove or zipper-skin citrus" due to the ease with which the skin can be removed and internal segments separated. Depending on the weather and climate conditions, the fruit is harvested in the early to mid-fall. The fruit is juicy and very sweet, low in acid, and almost seedless, with an average of only 1.5 seeds per orange

History: Satsuma mandarin may have originated in China but it was first reported in Japan more than 700 years ago where it is now the major cultivar grown. It was first introduced in the 1800's by early settlers to the state along the banks of the Mississippi River near New Orleans. The 'Owari' Satsuma arrived from Japan, first in 1876 and next in 1878. During the period 1908-1911, nearly a million budded trees from 1908 to 1911 for planting in the Gulf States. The first recorded introduction into the United States was in Florida by George R. Hall in 1876. The name "satsuma" is credited to the wife of a United States minister to Japan, General Van Valkenberg, who sent trees home in 1878 from Satsuma, the name of a former province, now Kagoshima Prefecture, on the southern tip of Kyushu Island, where it is believed to have originated.