Calamondin

This would make an attractive potted plant.

A weird little citrus fruit and yet it's a pretty one.  I honestly didn't know what this plant was all about, but that doesn't mean we can't try new things out, right?  It's a very attractive bush with beautiful little fruit similiar to a kumquat.  The difference is that they taste nasty!!  Well let me be clear about this.  You should cook with these little fruits and not eat them straight off the tree.  My mistake is that I assume if it's an orange color, you can eat it.  That is so not the case with this fruit.  It is strange.  The peel was sweet with a bitter fruit inside. You would use this little fruit as a way to flavor food.  Over the past year, you've heard me talk about this strange plant and many of you have given me some wonderful responses.

It grows very well here and has a beautiful variegated leaf.  Even if I don't eat or use the fruit, it still makes an attractive landscape plant.  It needs a little bit more watering than other citrus plants.  During our severe freeze, it survived with very little protection. In many ways, this plant reminds me of those decorative orange trees I see around town.  They look pretty and that's about it. Why put in a decorative orange? Why not a real edible orange tree?  Again, when I first moved here, I thought anything orange was okay to eat and boy what a sour shock that was to my mouth!  While studying in Mexico, I tried several trees in Guadalajara and discovered that there are a lot of citrus out there that are not good to eat at all....or even use in your cooking!! The calamondin fruit is a very tangy and sour fruit. This is the perfect fruit to squeeze into your cooking.  

I have one more citrus to report and then a report about spitting out citrus seeds.  I also have a personal story of a love affair that happened with an orange seed in Wisconsin and how it has grown with me over my lifetime. Until my next post, have fun searching and planning your spring gardens wherever you may be!!!