Tangerines.

They bring back fond memories from my childhood.
Like...
Cold winter afternoons
Gloved hands peeling open a tangerine and the smell of tangerines on the gloves
Dry tangerine skins lying in a line on top of the heaters because they make the room smell good.
and
a teacher extend her hand to me with a tangerine in it after I had been coughing endlessly in class

I always associate tangerines with winter. We have long endless winter in our hometown. 6 month. Twenty years ago, the distribution of fruits were controlled and paid by the government. Fruits from the south didn't get transported to the north. Before the winter came, people in our hometown would stock up on fruits, such as apples and tangerines. What we stored were the only fruits we could eat in the following 6 months.

Then several years later, free trade markets were established. I didn't realize the significance in calling a market FREE until many years later. At that time, free trade market brought oranges and strawberries and pineapples, watermelons in winter to the frozen north.

After the free trade market, I hardly eat any tangerines anymore.

Many years later, in a city with no winter, my cube mate discovers tangerines at a local super market where he always buys lunch boxes. He brings them back to the office and shares them with me. He calls them hybrid oranges because they appear smaller than the "normal" oranges.

At the same time, I find boxes of tangerines scattered in my room and my boyfriend sitting on the couch, eating five of them at a time.

The boyfriend used to get up early on Saturday mornings to go to farmer's market for grapes. "They are healthy snacks." he announces it every time I point out the fact that the amount of the grapes he buys can feed a small army.
Then he tastes a tangerine.
Now he gets up early Saturday morning to go to farmer market for tangerines. Now I tell him the amount of tangerines he buys can feed a small army.
Now he replies, "Tangerines are healthy snacks. They are also not so tedious to wash as grapes!"

Now I start eating tangerines again. They remind me of winters in Dalian.