The History of the Satsuma Mandarin &
The Mountain Mandarin Growers' Association

Satsuma mandarins originated in Japan more than 700 years ago. The first recorded introduction into the United States was in Florida by George R. Hall in 1876. The name "Satsuma" is credited to the wife of a U.S. Minister to Japan, General Van Valkenburg, who sent trees home in 1878 from Satsuma, the name of a former province, now Kagoshima Prefecture, on the southern tip of Kyushu Island. During the period 1908-1911, approximately a million "Owari" Satsuma trees were imported from Japan and planted throughout the lower Gulf Coast states from Florida to Texas. The world's largest Satsuma industry is located in southern Japan. While this fruit is grown primarily for fresh consumption, a portion of the crop is canned as fruit segments or juice.

The first mandarin orange trees were planted in Placer County, CA in the 1880’s when Welsh settlers established the town of Penryn. The Welsh planted orchards of pears, plums, peaches, oranges and mandarins, which possessed more cold hardiness than other “sweet” citrus. In 1949 Frank Porier of Loomis was the first mandarin grower in Placer County to operate a fully equipped fruit processing and packing facility. Frank Aguilar, Ed Pilz, and Frank Madison were also planting mandarin trees in Penryn during the 1950’s. Together they purchased a sizing machine and began supplying fresh mandarins to local customers and grocery stores. Boxed mandarins soon became a wonderful gift greatly appreciated by friends and family throughout the country, including soldiers in foreign wars.

Unfortunately, in 1972 and once again in 1986 a major winter freeze broke water pipes, froze ponds and killed most of the citrus trees in the region. Leaves turned brown and fell to the ground leaving spindly, eerie looking skeletons in the place of the lush evergreen mandarin trees. Each time mother nature left the orchards in ruins, the mandarin growers lovingly persevered and replanted the trees.

Today over 23 mandarin growers throughout Placer County make up the Mountain Mandarin Growers' Association. From Auburn to Loomis, Lincoln to Newcastle, the warm days and cool nights make this area a perfect place to grow this sweet, seedless, popular fruit.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Mountain Mandarin Festival held each year at the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn the weekend before Thanksgiving. The original festival was held in Newcastle in 1992 and drew more than 12,000 visitors to the small town before it had to be relocated to Auburn. The Mountain Mandarin Festival is now bigger and better than ever and has grown to a three-day event, offering contests, cooking demonstrations, crafters and kids activities. It's a fun-filled weekend for the whole family with food, entertainment and of course, plenty of mandarins for purchase.

The Placer County Mountain Mandarin Growers' Association meets regularly for friendship and to plan for the future. Our goal as an organization is “To provide quality mandarins and expand markets to support local agriculture”.

We encourage you to stop by our mandarin orchards during the harvest season beginning in November and continuing through January each year. Experience a relaxing day in the beautiful foothills of Placer County and get a taste of this wonderful farm fresh citrus.