As the Spanish group Jarabe de Palo said… “we that were born on the good side of the world” … tend to award ourselves victories that are not ours.
If you are Valencian, you will remember your school days smelling like clementines during your lunch time. You knew perfectly well if your desk mate had eaten clementines after lunch because of the smell emitted which was impossible to hide.
If you are Valencian, you will surely have thought that clementines are ours, from the city of light, from La Terreta, from L’Horta… But no!
Its origin dates to the 19th century when the pollen of a mandarin tree was crossed with the pollen of an orange tree. It was Clément, an Algerian monk, who obtained this fruit through this crossing. Given that its flavour is sweeter than that of the mandarin, due to its hybridity with oranges, it is not surprising that it is one of the most demanded and exported products in our community.
There is a second version about its origin that dates back several centuries before in China. It has been claimed that clementines are identical to the mandarin variety grown in cities such as Guangxi and Canton.
Whatever the final version is, they do not belong to us. What currently belongs to us is the following:
– Spain leads the export of citrus for fresh consumption.
– The Valencian Community is the main exporter of clementines to the USA (HALIFAX/NEW YORK) and CANADA (MONTREAL/TORONTO).
Let yourself get infatuated by its aroma, return to the past and rely on exports to perpetuate its future but…
Let’s not forget where we do all come from! It was the Muslims who left us a deep knowledge of the cultivation techniques that were developed in the Andalusian era. They were the main agents of the agricultural evolution of which today we are so proud… So…
Give Unto Caesar What is Caesar’s!
