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I often find dark beads along the core of clementines grown overseas. On the odd occassion, one of the beads is clear and transparent. I've attached a photo below. The beads are not fluid; they are hard.

What are these? They're a pain to care away. Especially at work, where sharp knives are less accessible. enter image description here

user2153235
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  • Return to the store where you bought them. It is probably caused by a fungus or something. – benn Jun 06 '18 at 12:29
  • The difficulty is that I buy them in batches, and discover bad ones as they occur randomly. It's just too much trouble to save them, then try to return them all smelly when I next have the opportunity to go to the store. Especially since I'll have consumed an unknown fraction of the batch. My point wasn't to "fix" the problem (I could end up returning them every other day or so!). Just wondering what the problem was. – user2153235 Jun 08 '18 at 01:54
  • What about citrus [endoxerosis](http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=20420)? See picture in the link – benn Aug 06 '18 at 10:43
  • @b.nota: The picture at the page you cited certainly looks similar to mine....Thanks, that could it. Colin Beckingham's answer mentions pectin, and though the endoxerosis page that you cited doesn't, both answers mention the cause being dry conditions. I wonder if they are saying the same thing with different words. Would you care to post this as an answer? – user2153235 Sep 06 '18 at 02:12
  • Thanks for your feedback, I have added an answer with more information about this phenomenon. – benn Sep 06 '18 at 07:11

3 Answers3

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It could be pectin, which is present in the peel and pulp of citrus fruits. Sometimes it can appear in gooey blobs (technical term) inside the fruit but not inside the segments; these blobs may dry down when the tree experiences very dry conditions.

Colin Beckingham
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    Sounds plausible. Would you be able to say whether such a thing actually happens (meaning that you've seen it, or seen it documented) or whether you're speculating on something that *could* happen? I'm just trying to get a bead on the kind of information this is, i.e., a postulation of what might be possible, or a proposal of what is known to happen, as a possible explanation of my observations. Thanks. – user2153235 Aug 06 '18 at 02:54
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From what I understand you are worried about the beads of juice on the orange slices? Those beads are just juice of the orange, a prick could've caused this or just the temperature change from a refrigerator to the warmth of the kitchen. Nothing at all to worry about.

Water, juices will try to escape their turgidity of the cells surrounding the seeds of the orange. I would pop them in my mouth and savor!

No problem that I am able to see or have even heard musings of a problem. Enjoy that orange. My hubby uses knives to peel an orange...I use my fingernails. I eat with random abandon. The fruit inside that peel is probably safer than the water you drink from your tap in the kitchen sink.

stormy
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  • They're not liquid. They're hard, and mostly dark. I've added this detail to the original question. – user2153235 May 07 '18 at 11:06
  • My guess would be immature/incomplete seeds. They are close to the correct location. – Tim Nevins Jun 06 '18 at 16:40
  • That occurred to me as well. But some of the beads are quite translucent, and though I am not a biologist or horticulturalist, that just dosen't strike me as very seed-like. – user2153235 Jun 08 '18 at 01:52
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It could be endoxerosis (aka internal decline), which can have different forms (in severity). The exact cause of endoxerosis is not known, but according to this article (about lemons) it could be caused by higher potassium levels, water stress, and/or high temperatures.

benn
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