Why are canned tangerines so “clean”?
If you’ve ever made dessert with canned tangerines, you know how sweet they are. This is because most mandarins are preserved in syrup, which makes them nice and sweet. But have you ever noticed how suspiciously “clean” these mandarins are? Fresh tangerine segments look totally different and are always covered with white threads and a fine skin. Research shows how this is possible, however, you may not want to eat canned tangerines after you know the truth…
New knowledge does not always make us happy.
Tangerines
If you have ever peeled a mandarin, you know how difficult it is to remove the white threads. Even if you attack the mandarin with your fingernails, it’s difficult to get rid of them all, and sometimes the mandarin turns into a pitiful pile of pulp. How is it possible that the canned mandarins are stripped of their white threads and skins?
China
Most canned tangerines come from China where there are factories full of people who work to ensure that we can eat canned mandarins. Women have to peel countless mandarins there, and have about ten seconds per mandarin. That means they peel six per minute, which is equivalent to 360 mandarins per person, per hour! The peeled mandarins then go on a conveyor belt to their next destination: a nice bath.
The Bath
The bath in which the mandarins go consists of the chemical, caustic soda. This is the same caustic substance that is used to unblock drains. It breaks down organic matter, which can unclog a sink, and it dissolves the food residues in drain pipes. Criminals also use this chemical to get rid of body parts. For that reason, you shouldn’t get caustic soda on your hands, because it can damage your skin. The mandarins are kept in caustic soda long enough to remove the skins and threads, but not long enough to attack the flesh.
Hydrochloric acid
To make the mandarins edible after the caustic soda bath, they are given a second bath in hydrochloric acid. This eliminates the caustic soda, because together the two chemical liquids are equivalent to water! After this the mandarins are canned with syrup, and are ready to start their journey to the supermarket.
This video teaches you how to do this yourself with tangerines:
Source: Keuringdienst van waarde | Image: Videostill