Has anyone grown / tasted any of these? How accurate are the descriptions? A lot of them sound and look to be almost the same, so I'm wondering what the difference between them is (regarding taste, mainly).
I have tasted some of those variaties in plant nursery, so take my opinion "cum grano salis" because there the fruits are usually more watery: in a few words, I would distinguish sweet lemons (
Citrus limon hybrids) that are one thing and mostly still retains the acid contrast, while
Citrus limetta cultivars are another thing, mostly acideless and a little disappointing because of this. If you like the contrast better Meyer or New Zealand Lemonade lemons, if you like small fruit with a lot of juice but not with a strong taste search for sweet limettas varieties (they are NOT sour like limes).
They have small fruits (as a golf ball) looking like small short lemons but very juicy, just the taste is not very sharp, the rind is flavourful but thin. I think there are a lot of very similar varieties of
Citrus limetta with different names in Italy because they are very old varieties.
Probably Limetta Romana, Limetta del Patriarca, Limo, Petra Jacca and Bergamotto di Tunisi (last one is NOT
Citrus bergamia) are all different names for the same variety or very closely related ones, and some scientific publications suppose that
Citrus limetta crossed with an unknown
Citrus aurantium generated the
Citrus bergamia (true Bergamot) but that is another story.
Chinotto (that is a
Citrus aurantium variety) has on the opposite a very strong taste and nothing to do with them: the juice is very sweet but it is an almost dry fruit, the rind is very bitter and aromatic, but it is a sour orange variety
