FreshPoint

Description:

It is the consensus of Florida horticulturists that the MURCOTT MANDARIN variety is a tangor of unknown origin resulting from the breeding program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to Robert Willard Hodgson in Horticultural Varieties of Citrus, ‘ The oldest known budded tree, from which the present commercial acreage largely if not entirely traces, still remains on the place formerly owned by a nurseryman, Charles Murcott Smith, in Bayview, Clearwater, Florida, and is thought to have been budded about 1922’ (Ziegler and Wolfe, 1961). Under the name Honey Murcott, small-scale commercial propagation was undertaken in 1928. During the past decade, Murcott has been planted rather extensively in Florida. Typical of ‘ common mandarins’ , Murcotts have thin rind, rather tightly adherent but readily peelable. The rind surface is smooth to slightly pebbled and the color is yellowish-orange at maturity. High sugar content combined with good acid level results in intense, rich flavor.