mandarin taste

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howie
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mandarin taste

Post by howie »

just done a OEG method gin, excited that somebody had eventually got some mandarins for sale.(coles kids size pack - from USA)
i did my usual microplaning and weighing the citrus, but very little citrus came through.
just had a nibble on one the unused mandarins peel, not much taste at all.
oh well, might have to use orange/lemon/lime until oz mandarins come in.
one more variable i hadn't thought of :|
i might take my microplaner shopping to take a small sample next time, surely they wouldn't mind, what could go wrong :lol:
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NZChris
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Re: mandarin taste

Post by NZChris »

From Odin's original post;

"- Eat a tangerine and keep the skin"
https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtop ... 14&t=48668
howie
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Re: mandarin taste

Post by howie »

NZChris wrote: Fri Jan 22, 2021 11:16 pm From Odin's original post;

"- Eat a tangerine and keep the skin"
https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtop ... 14&t=48668
i did, skin had little or no taste.
the point was that i hadn't realised that some mandarins skin could be almost devoid of flavour.
next time i will be taste tasting my skins first.
i feel another essence coming on :lol:
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NZChris
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Re: mandarin taste

Post by NZChris »

The peel from the mandarins on my tree tastes very different to the peel from the tangerines that my neighbor grows. Both make good gin.
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tubbsy
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Re: mandarin taste

Post by tubbsy »

A Tangerine is a Manderin. And there are different varieties available, so what might have worked for Odin might not for you.

If you find the contribution of the peel to be too low when using the variety you have access to, add more in next time.
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Demy
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Re: mandarin taste

Post by Demy »

One of the (probable) reasons why your tangerines don't have enough flavor is because they have been harvested for a long time / storage methods / long journeys etc ... I'm not saying this but it could be the cause. If you take a look at my liqueur (https://bit.ly/2Y9CyVu) you will notice that fresh tangerines (the ones you collect from the tree) have many essential oils (look at my hands) while those sold in various ways have a slightly aromatic peel. There are some more or less tasty varieties but this makes a huge difference. I made some kind of gin recently with tangerines and the flavor is super strong.
howie
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Re: mandarin taste

Post by howie »

thanks everyone
but he main object of my original post was to warn people that...........
even if you do everything right, ie microplane and weigh your peel like a good boy to replicate good outcomes in the past, the quality of the peel can still ruin your day.

to that end, unless someone invents a zestometer, from now on, i will be manually checking my peel with my incisorometers. :)
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MartinCash
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Re: mandarin taste

Post by MartinCash »

Hugely variable. My first OEG is still overwhelmingly mandarin, can't really taste anything else, more than 6 months after making it.
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Re: mandarin taste

Post by howie »

MartinCash wrote: Sat Jan 23, 2021 7:50 pm Hugely variable. My first OEG is still overwhelmingly mandarin, can't really taste anything else, more than 6 months after making it.
pity you aren't near me, we could probably blend ours together and get a good drop :)
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NZChris
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Re: mandarin taste

Post by NZChris »

MartinCash wrote: Sat Jan 23, 2021 7:50 pm Hugely variable. My first OEG is still overwhelmingly mandarin, can't really taste anything else, more than 6 months after making it.
Try using a tangerine instead. Even then, OEG does use a lot more citrus than I've taken to using in any gin I currently make. Try using less. I use quite a bit less and often keep 440ml/l to capture more of the late flavors from the other botanicals.

If you overdo an ingredient, you might be able to fix it by making another batch without that botanical, or with a lot less, then blending the two.
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: mandarin taste

Post by Saltbush Bill »

The Tangerines I've seen in local fruit stores look nothing like a Mandarin. Apparently they are a Mandarin cross though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangerine
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NZChris
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Re: mandarin taste

Post by NZChris »

When I was a kid in the tropics, we had at least two varieties of mandarin and at least one variety of tangerine to choose from.
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MartinCash
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Re: mandarin taste

Post by MartinCash »

NZChris wrote: Sat Jan 23, 2021 10:14 pm Try using a tangerine instead. Even then, OEG does use a lot more citrus than I've taken to using in any gin I currently make. Try using less. I use quite a bit less and often keep 440ml/l to capture more of the late flavors from the other botanicals.

If you overdo an ingredient, you might be able to fix it by making another batch without that botanical, or with a lot less, then blending the two.
Thanks Chris, I've tried a couple of different ones, and at different concentrations already. I prefer the ones with between 1/20th and 1/100th the concentration of juniper. Of the citrus I've tried, I liked the character of Seville orange the best.
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