The easiest way to get your fill of tangerines and clementines is to pack one, or a few, and eat them as a snack. summaryĮating either or both fruits can help boost your vitamin A levels and provide a healthy dose of flavonoids and soluble fiber to support heart, digestive tract, and bone health. It has benefits for your digestive tract and may also help to reduce cholesterol levels ( 3, 6). Studies have found that these flavonoids extracted from citrus fruits have the ability to reduce inflammation markers in the body, improve blood flow through the arteries, increase bone density, and reduce asthma risk ( 3, 6).Īdditionally, 65–70% of the fiber in both tangerines and clementines is in the form of soluble fiber.

Two that have been well researched are naringin and hesperidin ( 3).

Vitamin A is essential for healthy immune function, vision, and cell development and growth ( 9, 10).īoth tangerines and clementines are rich in health-promoting phytocompounds called flavonoids. Research on beta-cryptoxanthin, which is concentrated in both fruits, indicates that it’s more easily absorbed in your body than other carotene compounds, including beta-carotene ( 9).Īs a vitamin A precursor, beta-cryptoxanthin helps boost vitamin A levels even more than the other carotene compounds. You might choose to eat them for your taste buds, but adding more tangerines and clementines to your diet may also provide important health benefits for your entire body. Both also supply provitamin A carotenoid compounds, but clementines have significantly more vitamin C. Tangerines and clementines provide nearly identical amounts of calories, macronutrients, and fiber. You get more carotenoids if you eat the whole fruit rather than drinking the juice from mandarins ( 3, 6, 8). Additionally, there are small amounts of both alpha- and beta-carotene. The major carotenoid in mandarin oranges is beta-cryptoxanthin. They also act as antioxidants and protect cells and DNA from oxidative damage ( 3, 6, 7). These are orange and yellow pigments in plants that act as vitamin A precursors, which means they’re converted into vitamin A in your body. In addition to vitamin C, both fruits are known to contain carotenoid compounds ( 3, 6). Eating two of them will supply more than a full day’s worth of vitamin C ( 5). While both fruits are good sources of vitamin C, if you want the most bang for your buck, choose a clementine over a tangerine. Vitamin C is also needed for many other functions throughout your body, including producing collagen to strengthen skin, joints, and bones, and for iron metabolism ( 6). Of the two, clementines are sweeter and easiest to peel.Įven though they’re small in size, both tangerines and clementines are packed with vitamin C, an essential vitamin that supports your immune system by stimulating white blood cell function ( 6). They’re both prized for their sweet flavor and soft, easy to peel skins. Tangerines and clementines are two varieties of mandarins. Just like tangerines, clementines are more cold tolerant than larger orange varieties, and they, too, are available from November through April ( 2).

You often find them sold in packages and labeled as “Halos” or “Cuties.” However, these are marketing names, not varieties. It’s also even easier to peel than a tangerine because the skin is thinner.Ĭlementines tend to be slightly more oval in shape than tangerines, with a flat spot on the top and bottom. You can distinguish it from a tangerine by its slightly smaller size, brighter orange color, and smoother, shinier skin. Like the tangerine, it’s a sweet, easy to peel citrus fruit ( 2). The clementine ( Citrus clementina) is another variety of mandarin. Tangerines also have a darker reddish-orange, soft, pebbly skin that’s easy to peel. They’re sweeter than navel oranges but still a bit tart. You can find them in stores from November through April. Grown in warm weather climates across the globe, tangerines are a bit more cold-weather tolerant, compared with larger varieties of sweet oranges. However, while all tangerines are mandarins, not all mandarins are tangerines.

In the United States, tangerines are often called mandarins. They’re named because they were exported by traveling through the port of Tangier in Morocco. Tangerines ( Citrus tangerina) are thought to be native to Southeast Asia ( 3). Tangerines and clementines have a similar appearance, so it’s easy to get them confused or think they’re one and the same. They share many of the same characteristics as other mandarins, such as a smaller size compared with navel oranges, few to no seeds, a sweet flavor, and a thin, soft skin that’s very easy to peel ( 2). They’re the second largest cultivated group of citrus fruit after sweet oranges, which include larger sized varieties like navel and blood oranges ( 1). Tangerines and clementines are both hybrids of the small-sized mandarin.

Calories in a tangerine orange