Though California has year-round citrus availability, it is late-season fruits of early spring such as Ojai pixies that garner much appeal. The pixie is a small tangerine that measures 3 inches across its cross-section. It has an easy-to-peel orange skin that harbors a juicy, seedless, sweet flesh. The fruit grows only in eponymous Ojai Valley, north-east of Los Angeles, courtesy of family growers. One of these growers is  Friends Ranches , now deep into the 2024 pixie season.

Selina Wamucii contacted Emily Ayala of Friends Ranches, who explored the defining characteristics of Ojai Pixies. 

“The Ojai Valley in California is unique in growing really great tasting late-season citrus. We get cool night and hot days in the winter months which lends to great flavor development. They like the daily change in temperature–from 70-90 degrees Fahrenheit to 35-50 degrees at night.” She described.

Production Seesaw

This leads naturally to the fact that 2024 had an early thaw that saw the harvest start as early as late February. This factor and a peculiar production seesaw of pixies affect production.

Emily explains: “Pixie mandarins are very alternate bearing…having a big crop one year followed by a light crop the following year.”

Apparently, this has to do with the unique biology of each tree. 

“Each tree is not the same; some trees this year have a heavy crop and will therefore be light next year.  This is the main reason people don’t grow them commercially.”

There ends the interesting discourse on a fruit whose total production back in 2012 was around 2 million pounds. It reaches its peak in April, a time when other tangerines are ebbing. The pixie first grew in Ojai Valley in the late 1960s through a breeding program by the University of California.

About Friends Ranches

Based in Ojai Valley, California, Friends Ranches is a fifth generation family farm that grows and sells ojai pixie tangerines. The farm’s other citrus fruits include blood oranges, Tahoe Gold tangerines, gold nuggets, navels and lemons.  The ranch also specializes in natural juices from its fruits.