I understand it takes a few years or more for satsuma to really make good fruit. Also I think they dry out when over ripe.

Mike

Ive had the same issue with Mr. Mac Satsuma. I left 3 fruit this past year on it and it was its 3rd year in the ground. Only about half of the fruit was edible and not very impressive on taste. I let it hang untill Thanksgiving. Maybe it was ripe in Oct???

Up here in the foothills, zone 8 or so, we begin to harvest the Owari Satsuma
in the second or third week of November, after a couple frosts (for color and sweetness).

The harvest time will be different depending upon the particular Satsuma cultivar,
as well as the location in which it is grown. Definitely harvest a fruit or two early
to get a comparitive test.

Josh

Poor fruit quality for a Sstsums, (mandarin) on a young tree, especially if it is from the very first crop is not unuseual. Many satsuma (mandarin) trees really do not beegin to produce quality fruit until around their 5th year of fruit production. I have no idea when you picked your fruit, but, if a mandarin is left on the tree too long they can become puffy and dry. - Silica

Sunburn on the fruit can also cause dry vesicles, at least in other mandarins and hybrids.

Satsumas need to be harvested just as they are turning orange. If you leave them on the tree, they'll get dry and pulpy. The first crop of mine was dry and pulpy, then last year they were wonderful, then we had a drought, and this year they're dry and pulpy again even though I thought I was watering it enough.

Mandarins, including Satsumas, take quite a few years to produce high quality fruit. This is likely a function of the tree's immaturity, as others have also suggested. Wait a few years and re-assess. Citrus need patience.