♪♪ Here in Orange Cove, California, sure, you'll find plenty of oranges, but there's another fruit that loves the growing conditions created by the foothills surrounding Orange Cove- mandarins!
[Heather Mulholland] It was not until the late nineties that we really started growing mandarins in the Central Valley.
So, if you think that now, everyone knows a mandarin, a Cutie, a Halo- whatever brand it is- those really didn't start growing in the Central Valley of California until the late nineties.
[Tom Mulholland] Remarkable about the Mandarin- 20, 30 years ago, it wasn't even a... a... a common fruit.
An orange was more common at that time, but the mandarin now has become the most demanded of all of them, just for the convenience sake of it.
Convenience is just one reason people love mandarins.
Citrus grower and mother Heather Mulholland can list many more.
[Heather] I absolutely love mandarins.
They're a perfect, healthy snack.
You can grab 'em, go, throw 'em in your bag.
They're great for kids.
Um, high vitamin C, good fiber.
They're just- They're really fun.
And the mandarins are super easy to peel.
Kids can do it.
It just makes for a really readily available, healthy snack.
Heather works alongside her father, Tom Mulholland, at Mulholland Citrus.
She describes it as a "seed-to-shelf" business, starting with these trees grown in the nursery to harvest time in the groves and, finally, the packing facility.
If the Mulholland name sounds familiar, it is.
William Mulholland was the architect of the Los Angeles Aqueduct and namesake of Mulholland Drive.
His son began farming citrus in Southern California, with the next generation relocating to Orange Cove.
Tom and Heather make up the third and fourth generations.
[Tom] I got here when I was three years old with my father, so I've been on the ranch ever since.
And so, I've been learning how to grow citrus through my father and then into my own ways of doing it.
And then, here we are with my daughter coming in to do it again.
Today, Heather is the chief operating officer of the family business.
[Heather] Most times, I think women are identified as the farmer's wife, or have historically been the farmer's wife or the farmer's daughter.
And, um, I...
I'm pretty excited to break that norm.
I'm really hopeful and excited for the future of females in agriculture.
As for Tom, his passion lies in the nursery.
He's traveled the world, bringing back different mandarin varieties that have become a hit in the United States.
One of the specialty varieties that the Mulhollands grow is called the Kishu.
[Heather] So, the Kishu is a variety name.
It's K-I-S-H-U.
It's a very old variety of citrus.
It was popular in Japan a hundred years ago.
So, we... we've branded it a Kishu Kiss, and a California Citrus Candy.
So, they grow kind of in, like, bunches, almost like grapes on a tree.
They're hand-harvested.
We go through the trees multiple times.
♪♪ The Kishus require delicate handling out in the groves, as well as back at the packing facility, where they are washed and waxed, hand graded, and then packaged into small bags, bound for specialty stores and chefs who love the unique fruit.
The Mulhollands also grow more familiar varieties of mandarins, like Clementines.
They're a little more hearty, but still require more careful handling, compared to other citrus fruits.
[Tom] The care that needs to be taken with a mandarin is... is that we need to have it clipped.
Every one of them has to be clipped, and they're- and the surface of the mandarin doesn't want to be ruptured or then, you can have decay and breakdown on that.
And so, the ease of the... of the picking is really important.
Because harvesting mandarins is so labor intensive, the Mulhollands say one of their top concerns is having enough labor.
Another concern, water.
[Heather] We left ground fallow this year, because we did have shortage of water, and we'll probably continue to leave ground fallow as we look at what our water usage and availability will be in coming years.
Despite those challenges, the Mullhollands see a long future for mandarins in California.
Tom points out the navel orange has been grown in this state for 150 years, whereas the mandarin is only about 30 years into its lifetime.
[Tom] So, yeah, uniquely enough, in my lifetime, I'm getting to see this and it's time for us, you know, to... to enjoy it.
And how lucky are we now to be here with the... the- with the best mandarins in the world?
[Heather] As the next generation, I plan to keep farming and keep growing products.
And I'm going to do it in my own way, with my own flair, with my... my own style, and I'm just going to have some fun with it in the future.
Mandarins are native to tropical regions of Asia and the Philippines.
The fruit was introduced to England in 1805 by Chinese officials, offering one possible explanation as to why they were named "mandarins."
The fruit grew in popularity in the Mediterranean region before making its way to America about 40 years later.
Although many people use the terms "mandarin" and "tangerine" interchangeably, a tangerine is actually a variety of mandarin that originated in Tangier, Morocco.