Author Topic: Dunnstan Citrumelo  (Read 5138 times)

Millet

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Dunnstan Citrumelo
« on: June 19, 2016, 02:14:45 PM »
In my opinion this is the only trifoliate hybrid that is edible out of hand.  Although, not great, it is exceptional for a trifoliate hybrid, and should be much appreciated after a hard freeze wipes out the other citrus.  The tree produces moderately large 2.5 inch fruit with a grapefruit odor.   The tree drops its fruit when the fruit is completely  ripe.  The pulp reminds me of a white grapefruit with several seeds per each section, and has a pronounced grapefruit flavor, but with some bitter trifoliate overtones, but not enough to make the fruit inedible if ripe fruit is used.   The tree's leaves are always trifoliate but otherwise grapefruit like with broad rounded leaves.  This gives the tree an interesting combination of grapefruit and trifoliate orange charcteristics that make it really very ornamental. If the fruit is eaten with a grapefruit spoon, with care to avoid excessive scraping of the rind and segment walls, the trifoliate orange taste can be avoided.  Fruit quality 6 out of 10. In lower climate zones winter protection required on very cold nights. For those growers who like to push the climate zones, this is a tree worth considering. Stan McKenzie Farms offeres this tree for sale and can be found at - http://mckenzie-farms.com/  - Millet
« Last Edit: June 19, 2016, 02:34:22 PM by Millet »

Ilya11

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Re: Dunnstan Citrumelo
« Reply #1 on: June 19, 2016, 03:21:55 PM »
Millet,
Are you growing it?
My plant in the open ground survived -16C, but no fruits yet. *I have read  contradicting opinions on its gustative qualities, probably there are different clones of this citrumelo.
Best regards,
                       Ilya

shah8

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Re: Dunnstan Citrumelo
« Reply #2 on: June 19, 2016, 03:44:51 PM »
I view all such claims of great edibility suspect.

Dunstan and Morton both have comments about how you can avoid segment walls...I think it's just mostly about fruit being bigger and juicier and not necessarily better.

Again, we really have a problem with people talking about how inedible or edible these things are.  Citrange/Citrumelos/Citrangequats/Citrandarin etc, are all quite edible, for the most part, and they are better than many marginal fruits.  So people hype these up.  However, real citruses (kumquats sort of excluded) are far more edible than anything with poncirus in it, so plenty of people disdain trifoliate hybrids unnecessarily.  We keep bouncing between these extremes, and should stop doing that.

I mean, my own tree, when fully ripe in December, has no off taste at all, and the rind is exactly like an orange and is even a bit sweet.  There's no skunk taste in an otherwise orange-lemon taste, and only perhaps a little terpentine taste that diminishes as it goes from mature (tastes more like Ugli fruit) in Nov to ripe.  The only real barrier to enjoyment is the strong caustic aftertaste and plentiful seeds.  Were there citranges like this a hundred years before they were created, they'd almost certainly have become part of rural cuisines.  There's no reason to get excited about my tree, but it's not chopped liver, either.

shah8

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Re: Dunnstan Citrumelo
« Reply #3 on: June 19, 2016, 03:47:06 PM »
And oh yeah...

It's also patently obvious that there are different strains of varying qualities for each major trifoliate hybrid.

Citradia

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Re: Dunnstan Citrumelo
« Reply #4 on: June 19, 2016, 09:06:59 PM »
I've eaten Dunstan citrumelo and as a native Floridian of 3 generations, it tastes to me like one of grandpa's old white grapefruits that as a kid, I thought of as bitter, but now as an adult, appreciate its grapefruit quality for what it is. My dunstan a which I grew from seed, survived last year with no protection and hardly dropped any leaves. I wish one of the prominent growers that can ship citrus would graft dunstan and Ichang lemon onto trifoliate or dragon so those of us in northern climes can enjoy fruit off of smaller trees that are easier to protect during "polar vortexes".

Ilya11

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Re: Dunnstan Citrumelo
« Reply #5 on: June 20, 2016, 10:18:09 AM »
Shah8,
I agree with you, people are probably expecting too much from existing poncirus hybrids.
Still, it is amazing that that after more than 100 years of selection, only few hardy and edible varieties emerged.
Nevertheless,  the existence of plants like Thomasville and Dunstan demonstrates that it is possible to shift citrus belt to the North.
I guess  not enough efforts were made in crossing direct poncirus hybrids among them; their crossing to classical citruses diluted the hardiness , but rarely  brought  good quality of the fruits.
Best regards,
                       Ilya