The Tropical Fruit Forum

Ichang Lemon

It is also called Shangyuan and is widely grown and used in some regions of China to perfume rooms and cabinets. The Chinese name Hsiang Yuan means "fragrant ball". It exists in several varieties and is able to withstand colder temperatures than the mandarin or kumquat. In the US it has been used for lemon pie and some connoisseurs think the juice makes a better flavored pie than lemons. Each fruit can yield up to a half cup of juice, but is very seedy. The rind oil has a strong flavor. It forms a small tree and is very thorny.

From the research I've been reading about, it seems it may have almost the same level of cold hardiness as Yuzu, which is really saying a lot.

here is from another source:

Hsiang Yüan, Sangyuan, Shangyuan, Xiang yuan
'Ichang lemon' originates in Hsing shan, Hupeh province, central China. It was discovered by E.H. Wilson and it probably is a natural cross of ichandarin C. junos Sieb. ex Tan. and ichang papeda. According to other sources it is a cross of a shaddock and ichang papeda. That's why it was referred to as shaddock in the past.
The tree is average, very thorny. Its leaves are elliptic, heart-shaped and have wings on their petioles. These small wings usually overgrow to the leaf part and cover about 1/4 of the leaf. Leaves are softer than those of orange or lemon, dark green and have sturdier petiole. It could be classified as frost hardy variety, it can take about -10°C without any damage and can be grown in cooler areas with proper protection. The fruit is usually elongated, slightly pointed and about 7-11cm long. Its rind is yellow, pebbled, thin (2mm), well attached to the pulp. The pulp is yellow, sour, aromatic, sometimes hot and tastes like a lemon, better than citranges. It has typical, intense aroma and is divided into 10-12 segments with lots of seeds (often polyembrionic, usually about 40 seeds). It is also very juicy and can be used for preparing refreshing drinks. It is an excellent rootstock that has (in case of oranges) increased the production rate by 15% (Botanical garden in Batumi). This variety is also used in China to perfume the room and that's what it's name came from, 'Hsiang Yüan' means aromatic balls. The fruit is in USA used in baking, because the hot air eliminates the bitter flavor.

Yuzu originated in China and is believed to be a cross between papeda and sour mandarin.
I can't comment on sour mandarin but bitter orange (which has sour mandarin and pomelo ancestry) is very fragrant, as fragrant as a lemon, part of the smell is comparable to orange blossoms and pomelo, but also with the tanginess of orange peel. The bitterness is not terrible; I can enjoy eating one or two of the little fruits out of hand, although they are not very sweet and don't have a huge amount of flavor, though what subtle flavor they do seem to have is good, apart from the slight amount of bitterness.

Are we sure it is not Garcinia cambogia?
traditionally used in cooking in parts of Southern India to add sourness to dishes.
Not all cambogia have obvious longitudinal ridging around the circumference of the fruit, look carefully.

The pictures look very similar to Garcinia indica, which is also grown in Arunachal Pradesh.

These are the two Garcinia species traditionally cultivated in India, so the tree you found is very likely to be one of them.

Mauritius is the most reliable producer of fruit. Some say that Mauritius has a very slight cinnamon-like taste. If you only have enough room for 1 tree and you really want a crop every year, Mauritius is probably the best variety for you. This variety is rather small, both the fruit and tree size.
I've read conflicting opinions about the taste of the Mauritius variety. Apparently the flavor has a noticeable difference from the other lychee varieties, kind of slightly sub-acid taste. Some people have said the flavor is very good to excellent, even that it is their favorite lychee variety they have tasted. Other people have said it is the only lychee variety they don't like.

Emperor has the largest fruit size, up to 1½ to 1¾ inch diameter, but its flavor is a little bland/insipid compared to other lychee varieties.

No Mai Tsze is supposedly the best tasting, but has small fruit size and is not the most reliable at producing fruit every year.

Brewster is an all-around good variety, but not really exceptional in any single category, the tree of this variety can grow quite tall so it may not be as suitable for small yards. This is the most common commercial variety in America, and I think the fruit exterior of Brewster has a more attractive appearance than the other varieties, smooth and bright red.

Kaimana is supposed to be an all-around good variety, with great taste and large fruit size, combined with a 'chicken tongue' seed so the fruit contains more edible meat. From what I have seen, Kaimana can get pretty large fruit sizes also, and may possibly contain more edible meat than the Emperor variety (it has a smaller seed). This variety would be a lot more popular if its fruit production were more reliable. From what I have read, there will be many years where it will not produce.

Some lychee connoisseurs are real fans of Hak Ip, but others think the taste of this variety is too "medicinal". It is prized for the firm texture of its flesh and the lack of juiciness.

Mauritius, Emperor, and Hak Ip are "mountain-type" varieties, so the trees do not grow as big and may have slightly more cold and drought tolerance than other lychee varieties (though all lychees need consistent water in dry climates).

The "Ten Degree Tangerine" is a hybrid between Clementine and Yuzu. It was thought to refer to the cultivar Clem-Yuz 3-3, but there is some confusion and it may also refer to Clem-Yuz 2-2.
 
Hardy to 10°F (-12°C), to perhaps all the way down to 5°F (-15°C)

Ten-Degree Tangerine may refer to either Clem-Yuz 2-2 or Clem-Yuz 3-3. Clem-Yuz 2-2 is a much earlier ripening fruit and is said to be better tasting by one grower. Clem-Yuz 3-3 can have a kerosene aftertaste. However the originator of this cultivar Dr. John R. Brown of Franklin, Texas, preferred 3-3.

"This plant, otherwise know as Clem-Yuz 3-3 is one of a number of Clementine X Yuzu hybrids produced by Dr. Brown during the late 1960s... semi-deciduous... blooming and fruiting after 80 to 130 hours of continuous subfreezing weather with minimum temperatures of 10 F or lower... Fruit ripens relatively late, in mid-December, in Texas, when it attains quality better than that of supermarket tangerines...the fruit matures into a sprightly flavored tangerine" p. 30

“The rind is orange and smooth...If self pollinated the fruit is nearly seedless.  But otherwise has 8-20 large, plump seeds per fruit, seeds appear to be a mix of monoembryonic and polyembryonic types...unripe fruit has an excellent lime-like flavor... [fruit] will keep for several months under refrigeration.” Fruit Gardener, Ichang Papeda Hybrids, p. 48 

At the Stan Mckenzie orchard in SC in March 2014, Ten-Degree Tangerine looked much better than Owari.  Trees still had their leaves, while Owari was mostly defoliated with stem die back.



Fruit on 3-3.  Small and immature.  Skin color half turned from green to yellow. Interior color pale yellow.  Flavor very good, tastes as good as some store bought, brix 9.5. Fruit was cross-pollinated. 12 seeds.



Fruit on 2-2. Very loose skin.

The fruit is large tangerine size, juice is sweetish with a mild tangerine flavor that has a trace of kerosene; but there is no gum or bitterness. Each segment has 1-2 seeds which are moderately large. Although the peel is corky, it is edible because it lacks the intense acrid bitterness seen in most citrus. Fruit is borne at branch tips near the outside of the tree, and is ripe by mid-October.

At best, fruit is a pale, juicy, seedy, low-flavored mandarin, but in many years it is dry and juiceless. Tree is productive, withstands 5 - 10 degrees F.  

An experienced hobbiest believes this is an excellent flavored fruit, and the early ripening period is an added benefit. Personal observation, pleasant tasting.


source: http://hardycitrus.blogspot.com/

Here's my little Passe Crassane:




The undersides of the leaves are slightly fuzzy, like on quince, and some light hairs surround the very outer edge of the leaves too, if one looks closely. The shape of the leaves also bear slightly more resemblance to quince than regular pear leaves would.

Passe Crassane is a naturally dwarfed pear variety, and the shape of the trunk and branch growth is a little twisted, again having resemblance to a quince tree.

Karp's Sweet

Here's a picture that appeared in the LA Times of Peruvian Apple Quince taken at the Santa Monica farmer's market:





The particular fruit being sold at the stand was grown by Weiser Family Farms in Tehachapi, but this variety came from Edgar Valdivia, who was the first to grow it in the U.S. This same variety is also sometimes referred to as "Karp's Sweet", in no small part because Karp was the one who wrote the article and took this picture.

http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/lat-la-karp-1005-la0011679655-20121017-photo.html

I really believe that with plastic sheeting, good sun exposure, and black colored water containers to retain heat, it's possible to prevent the inside air temperature from ever going below freezing. Since the very coldest it ever gets is -7 C (and very rarely that, usually more about -2 C on the colder nights), a 5 degree difference isn't all that much. And if the citrus plant never loses its leaves, that will greatly help compensate for the short growing season and prolonged state of semi-dormancy. You see, you have to identify the advantages the climate does have in the PNW and work off that. The PNW doesn't have the heat of climates in the South, so we have to instead tailor the strategy to use the relatively mild Winter temperatures. In the South, somewhere like GA, the plants can take some hard freeze, because the Winters aren't that long and once the cold season is over the plants will soon have those warm temperatures (and humidity) optimal for growing. That's not the case in the PNW. If the plant suffers severe damage, it's done for, it may not have the chance to recover.

From the research I've been reading, it seems like 'Crimea' and 'Kuganskaya' may be good varieties for eating raw. One source commented that Kuganskaya appeared to be inferior to Aromatnaya in every way (fruit size, aroma of the fruit, disease resistance) so they pulled the tree out of the ground. But another source I read commented that, while Aromatnaya was good for fresh eating, it didn't have as much flavor as Kuganskaya. It might be a personal preference thing, or maybe they should have waited longer to let their tree mature to see if the fruit quality improved. I'm sure these different Russian varieties are all very similar but there may be subtle good things to these particular cultivars.

So I got these two and put them in the ground. (They are at a different location, zone 8a. That should make things interesting, I can compare how much of an effect chill hours have on productivity.)
Will let you know after they produce fruit.

From the descriptions they sound very mild, sweeter and a bit softer than regular quince, and non-astringent. But I haven't actually got to personally taste them yet.

I take back what I said about temperatures going up by May. It's May 15th and the daytime temperature outside is only 50 F (Olympia). It's been like this the last couple of days. It's because of the cloud cover. Ironically that same cloud cover that prevents winter temperatures from going below freezing also keeps temperatures low during the Spring. Earlier this month though there was a stretch of days where the temperatures were around 70 to 73 F.

50 F is not warm enough for citrus to grow in, the plants have gone back into a semi-dormant state, waiting for temperatures to rise.

Even all the other temperate deciduous plants that had begun starting to leaf out (beginning in late April) have stalled.

Fortunately the Summers tend to last later into the year because of the dryer weather and clear skies into the Fall season, and I also suspect the surrounding bodies of water play a role in absorbing and releasing heat, that may to some extent delay and prolong the onset of warmer temperatures over the course of the year.

How does Cherapu taste in comparison to the standard Purple Mangosteen?
Is the flavor anything like Achachairu (if you've ever tasted that) ?