Mystery Citrus

[fruitlovers]

Etrogs from the lost tribes in Fiji? 
The first photo doesn't look like etrog because there is too much pulp and not enough pith. The second photo looks more like could be etrog. Kind of hard to say because i only have one type of etrog. Mine is very thick walled with almost no juice inside. But there are very many different types of etrogs. I'm not an etrog expert. I'd say consult an Israeli.
My guess would be it's a pummelo cross with something else, perhaps etrog or rough lemon.
Whatever it is it's an interesting looking fruit. Does it give off wonderful fragrance when brought indoors? That is a good sign of etrog. Pummelos have much larger seeds than in your photo.

[Radoslav]

Yes, the first fruit does not look like citrus medica.
John, it is time to try to make some candied peel from the second one.
This is my attempt with my citrus medica cv. Corsican fruits.




I also tried it with mango pieces.
And the result was great, I changed water during cooking 4 times and I added pieces of mango pulp, when I changed water twice (mango pulp is of course much softer than citron peel, so no need to cook it as long as citron) and the result was great - perfect additive for many cakes.

[jcaldeira]

Candied citrus peel is tempting to make.

In response to Oscar, the large fruit is not particularly fragrant.  Definitely tastes like something related to Pomello or Grapefruit, rather than Lemon.

I took a couple of photos today to compare the two new (to me) varieties I found and the Rough ("Bush") Lemon (in center, below) which is common here.

[fruitlovers]

Rough lemon we have here looks different from yours. Ours is a lot more bumpy on the surface.

[Mike T]

They are often very rough here as well with quite thick pith and large in size. Occasional trees produce fruit with longitudinal ridges like some citrons. The lemon in the pic looks pretty routine and less bush than cultivated.

[jcaldeira]

We have some more gnarly rough lemons here, too, but never with the longitudinal striations suggestive of citron.

[fruitlovers]

We have some more gnarly rough lemons here, too, but never with the longitudinal striations suggestive of citron.

Yes, that is the type of lemon we have here that we call rough lemon. BTW, etrogs have been around for thousands of years, so it's not surprising they would be in Fiji. Probably most ancient type of citrus. Might be ancestor of them all. They are in almost every country by now. Certainly they're here in gentile Hawaii!