Calamondin vs. Indio vs. Kucle

[martweb]

Both are Kumquat x Tangerine. Can anyone who has both compare the taste of Calamondin with Indio?

[sc4001992]

I have the Calamondin and the Variegated Calamndin now, tasted the fruits this year so I remember the flavor and taste compared to the kumquat (Nagami, Meiwa, Maru, Nordmann) fruits I tasted this year.

The Calamondin is not as bad as I thought, I could eat it out of hand and it was sour, but I can eat the entire fruit. I like kumquats so to me the Nagami is good tastnig with the sweet rind and sour flesh.

I had the Indio mandarinquat for years, never liked the fruit, it has nice size fruits, looks good, but fruit was too sour, and I couldn't eat the whole fruit. Cut down that tree, top worked it with other better tasting fruits.

[martweb]

So, you would say Calamondin is better than Indio?! How about the sugar content?

[sc4001992]

Yes, Indio is not sweet at all. This variety of Calamodin/Calamansi seemds to have much larger fruits than the normal ones and my other variegated Calamansi tree I just purchased.

Calamondin is good, tastes similar in sweetness to a Nagami, so not that bad, but still has the sour taste of Nagami.

[martweb]

But from what I read Indio has a Brix Up to 16.

[caladri]

Most calamansi I've had are near to key lime in sourness, while I've had a lot of mandarinquats (not sure if Indio or another) which were much, much sweeter and balanced.

[sheaper]

I would have to disagree a little on the Indio not being sweet at all.  My Indio won Best in Show last year at the Southeastern Citrus Expo and was enjoyed by many.  While i would not call it "sweet" when fully ripe it is very juicy and tart but with a nice sweetness but more on the sour side.

I find that Calamondin is similar in flavor but much different in the way that it peels/segments.  Calamansi can be peeled and segmented quite easily and therefore when fully ripe it has much more pith/fibrosity than Indio at the same stage.

[sc4001992]

martweb, sheaper, I take it back, my comments of the Indo Mandarinquat was wrong. I have been corrected on the taste tonight. I went to our CRFG meeting and on our fruit table, one of our members who volunteers for the UCR research field brought in a lot of different citrus for us to munch on after the meeting. There was the Indo Mandarin on the first container so I went for it right away, it sure surprised me how good it tasted. It is much sweeter and better tasting than the variegated Calamodin I show above.

The taste of Indio mandarinquat was very good, everyone at the meeting (over 75 people attended) said it was very good and like it a lot. Sheaper, I can see how your fruit won Best in Show.

The next container had the Cara Cara orange, which was the best tasting on the table tonight, but I still liked the Indio mandarinquat since you can eat the skin and the fruit is much larger than the Fukushu kumquat I ate last week.

Now, I will need to buy some budwood from UCR this month and graft some on my trees so I can taste the fruit again in a few years. I ate 3 fruits tonight and they were all the same, very good tasting. I even brought home one fruit so I'll take a photo and a brix reading and will post it hear later.

[sc4001992]

Ok, now I see why I said it tasted very sour, it was not the Indio, what I had was the Nippon Orangequat (checked my records).

https://citrusvariety.ucr.edu/crc3360

It looks similar in shape and size as the Indio mandarinquat. So I have never grown the Indo, now I just purchased 4 budwood and should get it next month to graft on my tree.

[martweb]

Thanks all for sharing all that information. May I expand my original question to even Kucle?

[poncirsguy]

When I was youg I had a Kucle sandwitch in a saloon.  Not very good.

[martweb]

When I was youg I had a Kucle sandwitch in a saloon.  Not very good.

? Kucle is a hybrid between Kumquat and Clementine.

[poncirsguy]

Sorry.  I miss read it and saw knuckle

[sheaper]

All good. I’m glad you gave it another chance. It even has a beautiful upright growth habit with even spacing and dark foliage. One of my favorite trees.

[sc4001992]

I like al the kumquat fruits, but the Indio fruits are so much larger, and it is actually sweet not sweet and sour so it might become my favorite kumquat hybrid. I'll be grafting it on four different trees. Thank you for your comments on your tree.

[eyeckr]

For some reason my Indio always had sour fruits so I sold it. It did have beautiful fruit though. I have Kucle but I find it very similar to Fukushu but just a little smaller. Some say it is inferior to Fukushu but I feel like they are very close in flavor. Maybe it depends on how much heat the tree is getting while the fruit develops. I'm in zone 8 with hot summers so I get a good amount of heat here. For out of hand eating I'd prefer Kucle or Fukushu but for flavoring foods I'd use calamondin.

[martweb]

For some reason my Indio always had sour fruits so I sold it. It did have beautiful fruit though. I have Kucle but I find it very similar to Fukushu but just a little smaller. Some say it is inferior to Fukushu but I feel like they are very close in flavor. Maybe it depends on how much heat the tree is getting while the fruit develops. I'm in zone 8 with hot summers so I get a good amount of heat here. For out of hand eating I'd prefer Kucle or Fukushu but for flavoring foods I'd use calamondin.

Not only taste is importand, but also productivity. Can you say anything about this?

[eyeckr]

Very productive for me most years.

[martweb]

Which one do you mean?

[eyeckr]

I thought you were asking about Kucle. Calamondin is probably the most prolific and everbearing though