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  • From: "philip sauber" <mrtejas@lycos.com>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Quest(s) for edible trifoliate orange.
  • Date: Sun, 11 May 2003 22:05:52 -0500

I have a cross of flying dragon trifoliate x probably sweet orange. The tree
is very similar to flying dragon with wickedly curved thorns and contorted
branches. The fruit is edible. Around Thanksgiving it makes a fair lime
substitute. I haven't tasted it ripe yet. It is most likely a citrange. It
was discovered by a friend, Bonnie Childers of Lumberton, Tx in a batch of
flying dragon seedlings. The cross seedling looked different and he grew it
to bearing size. For a picture of edible flying dragon see:

http://members.fortunecity.com/pjsauber/DragonLime.htm

Most citranges (but not the "edible flying dragon" or "dragon lime" as one
wag has tagged it) are extremely sour to the point of inedible. One carrizo
citrange I tasted couldn't be sweetened with any amount of sugar.

I have gagged on an occasional trifoliate and swingle citrumelo fruit before.
I think what little pulp there is would taste OK to a 4 pack a day smoker
with a cold. I'd still like to hear from a still living person who has
tasted trifoliate marmalaide.

For those unfamiliar with trifoliate fruit see:

http://members.fortunecity.com/pjsauber/Trifoliate.htm


--

On Sun, 11 May 2003 21:19:00
Moyer, Richard wrote:
>Jim Nottke wrote:
>Keith,
>Please let me know if you find a source of Satsuma budwood - I'd like to
>try them high on a few of the 1100 trifoliate orange that I have here near
>Winston-Salem, NC. My oldest tree is about 60 years old and 25 feet tall.
>Jim.
>
>Phil Sauber wrote:
> Trifoliate orange fruit is definitely inedible and one would be dreaming to
>think you could make marmalade with it, it is so full of seeds there isn't a
>teaspoon of pulp per fruit!
>
>My response:
>Here in Zone 6 East Tenn, beggars can't be choosers for citrus. Hence am
>growing trifoliate from edge of Augusta National Golf Course, former site of
>Fruitland Nursery, founded by Berkman family about 1840. Around 1845,
>Berkman imported chinese trifoliate, according to M. Dirr, Manual of Woody
>Landscape Plants. I presume the plants still there are seedlings of the
>original. As for taste, my kids eat them and ask for more, though they do
>enjoy sour items.
>
>Many (most?) trifoliate are extremely bitter, easily inducing nausea. Flesh
>from Augusta source is not, though other's I've tried had me on the verge of
>vomiting. Augusta fruit still about the size of a golf ball to larger,
>seedy, gummy, but still with recognizable citrus flavor. (Folks in Zone 9,
>I sense your laughter, derision and pity.)
>
>Adam and Sue Turtle and Hidden Springs are two locations I know of testing
>for edible types and coldhardiness.
>Jim Nottke, fascinated in what you've observed with 1100?? trifoliate near
>Winston-Salem over the years.
>
>As for size, Ethan N. noted a source in Houston of much larger trifoliate
>fruit, at least the size of tennis ball, if I recall correctly.
>
>Phil, as for processing the fruit for marmalade, gumminess seems to be the
>problem over size and seediness. Donna Hudson and Lon Rombough have
>commented on the gumminess problem in a thread several years ago.
>
>Though March freeze wiped out our early trifoliate blooms, we still have a
>few dozen fruit from later blooms on two trees, with several more too young
>to bloom. These trees are hardy above ground well below zero without
>protection; Hector Black noted bloom and fruit after -17 F. Our bigger
>problem is late March/April freezes. Jim, do you have any with higher
>chill?
>
>Would enjoy any and all input on edible trifoliate production in Zone 6-7.
>Thanks,
>Richard Moyer
>Zone 6, East Tenn, 1800'
>Strawberry season!
>
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