Fruit Tree

It has to be Tangerine. Apples are awesome, bananas are brilliant, cherries are cute (fabulous blossom too), damsons are delicious, entawaks are exotic (look them up), figs are flavoursome, greengages are groovy... I could go on through the alphabet... but tangerines are the tops.

Let's get the etymology out of the way first. It ought to come as no surprise that tangerine was originally an adjective meaning 'of Tangier', the Moroccan seaport from which the fruit was first shipped, given that it grows in that region of the north African country. It was in fact once known scientifically as 'Citrus nobilis var. tangeriana', though its modern binomial is simply Citrus tangerina. The OED cites the first usage of tangerine from an edition of The Tatler in 1710. Morocco to this day is still the fourth largest producer of tangerines behind China (the world's biggest grower, though their variety is more commonly known as mandarin), Spain and Türkiye.

As for the fruit itself, tangerines are smaller and less spherical than oranges. A ripe tangerine has a slightly pitted, soft thin skin, is usually easy to peel, and the flesh inside tastes stronger and sweeter than an orange. Tangerines are great thirst-quenchers, being 85% water, 13% carbohydrate (fructose and glucose) and 2% fibre and protein. They are rich in vitamins A and C. One small tangerine provides about a third of the recommended daily vitamin C intake. Eat three a day and you'll never be a scurvy knave. They are also virtually fat-free. 

Tangerines are easier to grow than many other citrus fruits. They can even be grown in containers indoors. They require these key components:

- a mineral rich soil that does not decompose, and contains live microbials

- organic fertiliser without synthetic salts

- regular watering to keep soil moist but never waterlogged

- a minimum 6 to 8 hours of sunshine during the growing period (May to September in our hemisphere)

- a temperature than never drops below freezing

Tangerine trees take four years to reach maturity and start fruiting. They can eventually grow up to 15 feet tall, but can be kept more compact (6 to 8 feet) in a container or if pruned regularly. A healthy tangerine tree can produce up to 100 lbs or 45 kilos of fruit each season and will continue to fruit for up to fifty years if well maintained.

Who recalls as a child finding a tangerine at the bottom of one's Christmas stocking? Apparently it's a tradition that goes right back to the 13th-century when French nuns would leave stockings full of fruit, nuts and tangerines at the houses of the poor at Christmas. It's certainly the case that the giving of tangerines as gifts to family and friends at the tail end of the year is an honoured tradition in China and Japan, the fruit and the colour being symbols of good luck and happiness.

 

The colour tangerine (as separate from orange) didn't appear in print until 1899. As an historical back note, even the word orange was a latecomer to the official spectrum of recognised colours. Until the arrival of oranges in 13th century Europe (brought to Spain from Persia by Arabs), and the naming of the colour after the fruit (nārang in Persian which became naranja in Spanish, with "have a naranja" eventually morphing into "have an orange" in English), objects of a shade between red and yellow were always described by the compound word reddish-yellow or yellowish-red (geoluhread in Old English).

Nowadays, tangerine, also known as 'vibrant orange', has a hex designation #f28500 in computer graphics and a Pantone number 15-1247 in the painting and printing trades. And we in the jewel of the north are very proud that our local football team plays in tangerine (not orange) and white, a tradition which actually began in 1923, before which time Blackpool played in a variety of fairly ordinary red or blue kits. It is not unusual to hear or read us being referred to as the Tangerines, as well as the Seasiders.

And so to my latest poem, which also lends its name to the title of my upcoming second collection due some time in the spring. More on that later. For now, I give you...

Tangerine

Sitting in the shade of this tangerine tree

a quiet hour devouring you page by page
my false bride, your Christmas stockings
eyes of night dimpled smile lips as bright

as morning sunlight striking citrus.  Folies

fade in memory. Your hex code printed on

emotions soft and slow to ripen till waxen

peel yields up its mist of essential oil, zest

as promise of cool flesh in segments fresh

and full which pressed to bursting squirt a
sweetness on my tongue. The tang itself of
life, of love, reveals in complex favours by

degrees, a liquid fire to quench such lusting
as is chaptered within. End of my questing,
just rind and spit pips attesting you’ve won
an unintentioned heart. Love you tangerine.

I couldn't write on the subject of fruit trees without leaving a small musical bonus in the form of Nick Drake's beautiful song: Fruit Tree from the LP 'Five Leaves Left'. It might have been inspired by his visit to Morocco in 1967.Just click on the song title to activate the YouTube link. Enjoy.

 

Thanks for reading. Up the mighty Pool. S ;-)

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Flood

Can we manage another Saturday blog with more than a hint of World Cup about it?  Of course we can. Flood is the week's given theme, so I'm thinking lights (as in floodlights at stadia) and emotion (witness the irrepressible outpouring of joy that has swept middle earth in response to Morocco's phenomenal progress in Qatar). 

The function of floodlights at sports grounds is obvious enough: to allow games to be played after dark. Given that the majority of world cup games in Qatar have kicked off after dusk, it's no surprise that the eight world cup stadia have become baskets of light each match night. (Presumably the Qataris don't have to worry too much about the energy bills!) To kick off, here's a teasing triple quiz question for you. Which sport do you imagine was the first to feature a floodlit game? And when? And who was competing? [Answers at the foot of the blog. ]

Floodlights at Wrexham FC

I'll throw you one clue - it wasn't football - though Sheffield United did trial a floodlit game with temporary battery-powered lights late in 1878, in an attempt to "brighten up" the gloomy atmosphere of a South Yorkshire winter afternoon. In fact football lagged way behind other sports, thanks largely to the innate refusal to embrace change of the Football Association. When Herbert Chapman was manager of Arsenal in the 1930s he installed permanent floodlights at Highbury Stadium but the FA refused to sanction their use, so they were only turned on for friendly and unofficial games and League football continued to contend with the inevitable murk and gloom that beset the latter stages of many a winter game adhering to the traditional 3pm kick off time.

Things only began to change in the English football world in the 1950s. Southampton installed permanent floodlighting at the Dell as did Spurs at White Hart Lane but still the FA refused to sanction its use for league or cup games. Even Wembley Stadium had floodlights installed before the the first official use of the technology at a league match, Portsmouth v Newcastle at Fratton Park in February 1956. Now of course we take floodlights at football stadia for granted (until those occasions when they fail). They guarantee that the field of play can be as bright as a summer's day regardless of the time of day, the season of the year or the vagaries of the weather.

Of course there are very few vagaries of weather in Qatar where (whatever one may think of the decision to hold the finals there - see my previous Miscalculation blog for the lowdown on that) there has been some pretty exciting football to enjoy, not least, as mentioned at the outset, from the Moroccans. Winning their group and then knocking out Spain ought to have sent a message to the football world that here was a force to be reckoned with.

Ecstatic Moroccans in Qatar

And now they've just gone and made history by knocking out Portugal, thus becoming the first African team ever to reach a world cup semi-final. The only goal they have conceded in the whole tournament was an own goal. They have been supremely well organised and potent on the attack (though missed chances in both the last two games to put the game to bed well before the final whistle). 

I've fancied Morocco for a few years now. I bought a Morocco football top for the last world cup in Russia where they failed to get out of their group (losing 1-0 to Portugal in the process). I've worn it for every game this tournament and get to do so once again at least. The support they have been given by their fans (and many more across Africa and the Arab world) has been immense. What hasn't been widely reported is that their fans stay behind to tidy up the stadium just like the Japanese fans did. They've earned their right to be euphoric and to celebrate tonight. This is the joy of the beautiful game.

Moroccan diaspora celebrating across Africa and Europe

There's no poem this time - football has provided the poetry today. I'm emotionally drained by the afternoon's events and there's still England v France to negotiate. 

Oh yes, the answers to my teasing triple quiz question: Surprise, surprise... it was polo, way back in July 1878 when Ranelagh Club competed against the Hurlingham Club in London. The duration of a polo match is variable and they used the new technology as they wanted to be able to play on to the conclusion of their game and not have it curtailed by darkness falling.

Thanks for reading, S ;-)

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