Ripe to You is the best thing that’s happened to me this winter! Well, I guess life-saving surgery is up there, but a 20-pound box of mixed citrus flown straight from California is also a fabulous treat.

Thanks, Saveur magazine for tipping me off to this gem. Thanks also to Peter’s colleague who is a devotee of mail-order food, and who was running through a list of tasty treats (none of which I can remember now–some kind of marshmallow cookie things, at least) that he received regularly by post. This litany of gift boxes must’ve set Peter and me in the right mood to throw down the cash ($35 for a 20-pound box seems reasonable…oh, but wait, the shipping…ouch).

Also, I was missing California a little. I still can’t get the image of the one farmers’ market stall in Santa Monica that dealt in nothing but tangerines. There were about 80 varieties, all with free samples out. It was like a dream. I began to taste each one, to make an educated decision, but I realized it was hopeless and just grabbed a three-pound bag of some nice ones with the stems still on. Of course they were insanely perfectly delicious.

Speaking of stems, that’s a small selling point of Ripe to You–a lot of the fruit still has stems and leaves on. It looks nicer, and I secretly think it keeps the fruit a wee bit fresher longer. Always, always when you buy supermarket tangerines with the stems on, they turn out to be the best ones you get all winter.

Also, Ripe to You is educational. Did you know the minneola is a cross of a grapefruit and a tangerine? I did not.

Oops, I think I may have eaten all the minneolas already.