Tangerine
Sweet, juicy orange peel with a bright, slightly tart freshness.
You may know it from Peeling a fresh tangerine
Where it comes from
Pressed from the peel of tangerine or mandarin-like citrus fruits.
Botanical name: Citrus ×tangerina
About tangerine
Tangerine is a name botanists have not settled. It is treated either as a variety of the mandarin orange or as a closely related species, depending on who is classifying.
In commerce the word stretches further. Florida classifies tangerine-like hybrid fruits as tangerines for the purposes of sale and regulation. One American variety, the Dancy, was grown by Colonel Francis L. Dancy, and 2012 was the first year since 1874 that no Dancys were sold on the US market.
The oil is dominated by limonene and gamma-terpinene, according to perfumery glossaries.
Ask where tangerine sits next to mandarin and the answers pull in different directions. Mountain Rose Herbs describes a sweet, bright citrus that is orange-like but not as sugary. A perfumery glossary calls it bright, zesty and slightly greener than mandarin. Eden Botanicals finds a sparkling, very fresh, tangy aroma, similar to mandarin and more subtle.
Perfumers describe the effect in plainer terms. Eden Botanicals quotes Christine Nagel on tangerine's fizzy, joyful, luminous effect in a fragrance.
Accords it shows up in
How many of the fragrances listing Tangerine in our catalogue also carry each accord. We counted this ourselves.
Often paired with
The notes that appear next to Tangerine most often in our catalogue.
Well-known fragrances with Tangerine
Fragrances that list it in their notes, most-rated first.
Houses that use it most
Ranked by how many of their well-known fragrances list Tangerine.