Oranges

Have had a couple new varieties (for me) recently that are awesome.

I started buying Sumo oranges-they are great .
And I then purchased a Cara Cara orange. It was the best orange I’ve ever had .

Any other great/new varieties out there ??

I love Cara Cara oranges. Just had a Sumo for the first time a couple weeks ago. Another favorite of mine is Page Mandarin, a cross between a Clementine and a Minneola. The season is winding down though.

SUmo’s are my favorite! Have you tried Envy Apples??? Amazing.

I love Temple oranges. Really hard to find other than direct from the groves up here

Golden nugget mandarins are worth seeking out.

They are not difficult to find at the SoCal farmers markets during citrus season but I’m not sure how widely available they are from commercial farmers.

That’s like comparing apples and oranges!! Lol .

Haven’t tried one but will keep my eyes out for them.

One of my absolute favorite citrus isn’t an orange at all, its a pummelo. Pummelo is a genetic parent of grapefruit so it’s similar, but vive la difference. The first thing is that they are big like a cantaloupe and the peel is super thick - like 2-3 inches. The segments come apart cleanly and are completely dry on the inside, so you can peel them too and remove the juice sacs intact. It’s a totally different experience from any grapefruit you have ever had and the taste is much less bitter and sour. They are easy to eat with your hands without any mess at all. I find them totally addictive.

They are grown commercially, largely in Mexico, and available at most Asian supermarkets (99 Ranch, Zion, H Mart). Also available at the SoCal farmers markets in additional varieties not commercially grown.

It wouldn’t be WB if I didn’t offer you something different from what you asked for, right?

Lucky enough to live by the tangerine capital of the uS. At the farmers market, several types - honey tangerines that font have many seeds, murcitts. The cara caras have been great this year. Even regular navels.
My absolute favorite is Satsumas, they are first if the season.
On the other have , all the apples have been a little subpar- Envy, Honeycrisp.
, Fuji, all mealier than my standards.

Sumo, or Dekopon, technically is a tangerine. Amazing. Has it all. Easy to peel, no seeds, incredible citrus flavor with acidity. Can’t yet get the trees in the US. I’ve tried.

From Wikipedia: Dekopon is a seedless and sweet variety of mandarin orange. It is a hybrid between Kiyomi and ponkan, developed in Japan in 1972. Originally a brand name, “Dekopon” has become a genericized trademark and it is used to refer to all brands of the fruit; the generic name is shiranuhi or shiranui.

A couple years ago I got some budwood from UCR and rootstock from a local nursery and grafted my own dekopons. I have four in the ground and they are doing well, one had a handful a fruit this year. Yes it is an amazing mandarin-orange hybrid. I have about 30 varieties of citrus planted and my favorites of the ones producing are gold nugget mandarin, tarocco blood orange, cara cara navel, and meiwa kumquat. I am looking forward to some others reaching maturity like the pummelo hybrids and the pixie/supernova/satsuma mandarins.

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Great selection, Dustin. Did you age the shiranui after harvest? What were they like?

I made shiranui trees via grafting last year and posted a walkthrough (link below). Two of six attempts succeeded but they are still babies.

https://www.wineberserkers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3092509#p3092509

Golden nugget trees are widely available from nurseries and worth the effort for those who don’t want to graft.

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Nice work on the grafting Joe, I missed that post, thanks for linking it. Very similar to what I did except I had some nice mature C-35 rootstocks about 1 cm in diameter that made the process a lot easier.

I did not age the fruit, the couple I had off my tree were great with a profile very similar to the store bought ones I’ve had. Sweet, with unique flavor and not acidic at all. I have read that aging is a method they use for the commercial sumos though I can’t recall if that is done in California or just Japan. I believe they are grown in greenhouses in Japan so I can see where that method would be needed to get the fruit fully ripe. That doesn’t seem to be a problem here in California, at least with the limited experience I have with the variety.

I absolutely LOVE the Sumo mandarins. What I don’t love is how damn expensive they are!

When I buy citrus fruits, I tried to buy ones that are “heavy in the hand”. That means juicier.

I bought one Sumo and had no idea what it cost .

When I bought the second one , I bought it at a different store and it was sold by the pound . I was shocked when paid $2.67. But damn it was good.

I’ll have to try them again - maybe I tried to early in the season but they didn’t distinguish themselves in what is turning out to be a very good citrus year (although grapefruits don’t seem up to prior years, maybe it’s distribution).

I do the same thing with choosing heavier ones relative to their size. I do it when buying most citrus, come to think of it.

Honeybells for us Floridians.
But love Sumo also.

Thanks Scott; we haven’t tried this one. I found a local source and will give it a go. #citrusberserkers

I’ve had Honeybells in FL and shipped to NY. Never thought they were so great but maybe it was just the source.

Here is a good read about oranges. Vintage McPhee, and surprisingly entertaining.