Here's the Citrumelo (presumed variety Swingle) cut up
It looks good. It only had one seed inside. But it had this terrible terrible taste inside I do not even know how to describe. A little bit of kerosene, yes, but something else that is absolutely intense and stomach-churning like Poncirus trifoliata. Maybe a tiny bit bitter, yes, but it was really not so much bitter, it was something else. (Maybe I could almost describe it like eating scented soap?)
It seemed very acidic though, maybe that was part of it.
I absolutely cannot eat this. Maybe it's barely tolerable, though difficult, if I cut the slice thin enough.
Besides that it seemed very similar to a navel orange, although with less flavor. The fruit is very juicy though, just going by the looks it seems like it would have all the hallmarks of a great fruit.
Dunstan citrumelo is supposed to be much better, but unfortunately I've never tasted the fruits to be able to compare. (Although I am growing one)
The inside smells just like a regular navel orange, maybe almost a slight hint of cucumber.
I'm really struggling to try to describe the bad flavor. Maybe it is like canned mandarin oranges that have been left in the can too long and have passed their expiration date. There's a putrid and metallic flavor. That's the best I can describe it.
If you take more than a very tiny bite, the instinct is too immediately spit it out.
Now for the Poncirus fruits - the special ones that are supposed to be edible, or at least have much less of the characteristic bad poncirus flavor to them. They don't look very promising.
I tasted a little slice. Well, they are very much noticeably less worse than the citrumelo. In comparison, they are still very acidic and I would say have about the same level of kerosene as the citrumelo, but they do not really have the offputting putrid quality to them. I would say the edibility level is between "not too horrible" and "tolerable". The flavor is much more like pine, and barely like orange.
The fact that this special cultivar of pure Poncirus trifoliata could be noticeably more palatable than another Poncirus hybrid is notable.
I hesitate to use the word "edible" in this situation, but I would say they are almost very close to being tolerably semi-edible in a survival situation, unlike that citrumelo.