exotic new citrus fruits: your favorites?

[Gifted Gourmet]

article in Food & Wine

Pomelo An oversize, mildly tart, grapefruit-like citrus with a yellow-green, superthick skin and pink flesh.

Oro Blanco A white-fleshed hybrid of pomelo and grapefruit, with a thick rind and a sweet taste.

Page Mandarin A Minneola-tangelo-and-clementine hybrid, with loose skin and red-orange flesh.

Mandarinquat A hybrid of mandarin orange and kumquat, with an edible rind and sour flesh. Eaten whole like a kumquat or used as a garnish.

Limequat A cross between a lime and a kumquat. Used for pickling, or to make a marmalade or preserve.

Sweet Lime Roundish with smooth skin, pale yellow flesh, low acidity and a slightly bitter aftertaste. Best juiced.

Kaffir Lime A seedy, sour lime with bumpy skin. The aromatic leaves and zest are indispensable in Thai cooking.

Key Lime

Etrog

Bergamot

Which, if any, of these are you using?

Any recipes to share? Comments?

[Dejah]

The pear-shaped Asian pomelos are in stores now, just in time for Chinese New Year. Each one must be examined carefully before purchasing so there are no blemishes.

The skin is a pain to peel. Hubby has that chore. The fruit is drier than other citrus and the "nodules" are big! I just enjoy it fresh.

But, I save the peel and soak it in soya sauce to be ysed later for a steamed pomelo and fatty pork dish . . . Toisanese peasant fare.

[beccaboo]

I use pomelos in Vietnamese salads, and I've made oro blanco marmalade (it tastes pretty much like grapefruit marmalade, but it's really pale).

[ScorchedPalate]

I'm using bergamot zest in bergamocello and their juice in cocktails.

Never heard of ertrogs before. Sounds like something out of Lord of the Rings.

~Anita

[Abra]

Anita - where did you get fresh bergamot? It's one of my favorite flavors.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Never heard of ertrogs before. Sounds like something out of Lord of the Rings.

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Jason Perlow on the topic of the etrog

[Shalmanese]

Does anyone know of a reliable way to pick a good pomelo? It seems to be the most variable fruit I've ever seen except possibly watermelon. One comes out juicy and sweet/sour while another comes out dry and tasteless.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Does anyone know of a reliable way to pick a good pomelo? It seems to be the most variable fruit I've ever seen except possibly watermelon. One comes out juicy and sweet/sour while another comes out dry and tasteless.

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Found just a bit of info on pomelos:

The rather ungainly-looking pomelo is larger than any other citrus fruit, between a large grapefruit and a soccer ball in size. However, much of its bulk is made up of a very thick rind, which peels away easily to reveal a segmented fruit closely resembling a good-sized grapefruit. The difference is in the texture and flavour. The pomelo's flesh tends to be dry and is rarely if ever bitter, although it can range from very sweet to acid to bland.

from Pete's Frootique website (scroll down)

[andiesenji]

I have used Pomelo, Oro Blanco (Sweeties), Page Mandarin, Limequat, Sweet Limes and Key Limes or Mexican Limes and of course the Etrog citron. Some for candying, either the fruit or the peel. Not all of these are new, and some have been around for a very long time, just not usually seen in markets.

I also get the very unusual Buddah's Hand lemons for the peel, which is extremely aromatic, far more than any regular lemon.

[docsconz]

I used bergamot the other night with a bone-in pork roast. I grated the peel with a microplane and rubbed it into the meat along with S&P and garlic. After I roasted it, I added the juice and some of the gewurztraminer I was serving it with to the pan drippings for an extremely tasty gravy. It gave a nice citrus acidity, but not a whole lot of specific bergamotness. This was served with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli with EVOO and S&P. The Gewurz was a 1992 Clos Windsbuhl from Z-H. It was a superb match.

While I never cooked with it, the Palestinian sweet lime left me wanting. I have to admit that I didn't really feel compelled by it in its uncooked state.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Has anyone tried the mandarinquat? There is an article about this unusual fruit here:

NYT article by Florence Fabricant

Each mandarinquat yields a generous tablespoon of lip-smacking, tart juice. It is a good substitute for Seville or sour oranges in dishes like duck à l'orange. The skin, however, has the tender sweetness of kumquat, so simmer strips of the peel in sugar syrup to garnish the duck.

[cdh]

Envious drooling...

Exotic citrus are a favorite thing of mine, and now that I'm in Pennsylvania, they're virtually unaccessable. Even on a jaunt to NYC last weekend, the Fairway citrus supply was downright pedestrian. Not even a Seville in the place.

I'm wondering where DocSconz of frozen north managed to get his hands on a fresh bergamot.

[fifi]

We had some fun a while back with preserving citrus. Click here. cdh did some candied limequats, which I still haven't found BTW. I have used the preserved calamondins on pork roast and it was fabulous. My sister makes a mean marmalade with them.

Over the holidays, we were on the hunt for bergamots in the Houston area. I never did find them.

If anyone is interested in growing some exotic citrus, you might find this site interesting. I have my eye on the varigated calamondin.

[richards1052]

If anyone can point me to a good mail order source for oro blancos I'd be deeply grateful. I live in WA.

[SuzySushi]

We can get pomelos and kaffir limes easily here (Hawaii), but I've never seen any of the other fruits. I can't eat pomelos (or grapefruits) any more, though, because they interact unfavorably with a medication I'm taking.

[cathrynapple]

The grapefruit is a hybrid between the pomelo and the orange. In some markets, grapefruits or pomelo/grapefruit crosses will also be sold as "pomelo" or "pummelo".

i love these facts.

[BarbaraY]

We picked up some sweet lemons at a Mexican stand in a farmers market last year. My daughter loved them but I thought they were rather insipid. I think they may have been the sweet lime you referred to.

I like the Pomelos very much and they are often in the stores here. I eat them like grapefruit, just scoop 'em out of the rind.

Edited November 21, 2005 by BarbaraY (log)

[patticky]

If anyone can point me to a good mail order source for oro blancos I'd be deeply grateful.  I live in WA.

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Check out Melissa's World Variety Produce at www.melissas.com for both mailorder and store location information. They also offer recipes, good descriptions of exotic fruits etc.

[miladyinsanity]

I prefer the slightly sour/tangy type of pomelo from Thailand.

Haven't cooked with anything other than the Kaffir lime though. It's actually what I usually use when I need lime/lemon flavors, and the leaf of the plant is used in cooking as well.