Woes of a mid-February citrus craving

If you've been keeping up, I have been eating Clementine oranges like they've been going out of style for the last month. And, apparently, they HAVE been going out of style, or at least out of season, since the last box I bought was only about 60% good. And cost about $7.

So yesterday I thought I'd branch out and buy some tangerines. Or, I think they were tangerines. I'm going to have to check their little labels. Anyway, I tried the first one this morning, and... it's just not a Clementine. First of all, it's got these big honkin' seeds, like THREE in each slice. And the flavor is vaguely toothpastey at times. And there's more of that abhorrent white stuff than I generally like to deal with.

See, this is why I haven't made it a point to buy oranges or anything of their ilk before; it is just neverending heartbreak. Anticipation, followed by the inevitable letdown, not to mention seeds and scraps of white-stuff everywhere, plus really, really sticky hands.

So I've a dilemma. I might try navel oranges next, but I fret about the seeds (smaller and harder to pick out?) and the evil white-stuff (at least on the tangerines-or-whatever, it comes off easily; I have vague childhood recollections of orange slices with completely immovable white-stuff).

I can see how genetically-engineered "perfect fruit" could find a following.