From Kumquats to Pamplemousse: It's Citrus Season

Quote du Jour
     We're marching to battle. We need you my boy.
     We're about to attack. We're about to destroy
     the Perilous Poozer of Pamplemousse Pass!
     So, get into line. You're a private, first class!
         ~ Dr. Seuss, I had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew

Pamplemousse

What a fun word! It's French for grapefruit, and no one could use the word more cleverly than Dr. Seuss.

Pamplemousse, Pomelos and Grapefruit are the largest sized fruit in the family of citrus, Citrus Maxima. Oranges and lemons are mid-size. And the smallest fruit in the citrus family are kumquats.  

Stops at Fruit Stands

I'm thinking of making a "VeggieBound Stops at Fruit Stands" bumper sticker. It's so interesting to find varieties of fresh fruit and vegetables that we've never tried before. 

Earlier, this week, while traveling up Hwy 5 in California, just north of the Grapevine, we stopped at The Murray Family Farms roadside fruit stand, and found an extensive variety of citrus fruit, many we had never seen before.

Next to their bins of gorgeous fresh citrus fruit, they had samples of each variety. We couldn't decide which ones we liked best, so we purchased several varieties to take home. Here's a link to the Murray Family Farms website,

http://www.murrayfamilyfarms.com/

and a photo from their website, showing many of the varieties we sampled.

A rainbow of citrus from murrayfamilyfarms.com

The Nagami Kumquat

The Nagami Kumquat is oval and about
the size of an olive. Eat whole, or cut in
half and serve in salads.

Roll then Eat...
Workers at Murray Family Farms stand demonstrated how to eat a Kumquat. 

Roll then Eat... Roll the small fruit between 2 fingers to release the citrus oils in the kumquat skin, then pop the whole fruit whole in your mouth. The taste begins with bitter and tart then becomes sweet and juicy, and they're delicious.

The variety at their stand right now is the Nagami Kumquat.



An Awesome Resource

University of California, Riverside
Citrus Variety Collection Logo 

UC Riverside Citrus Variety Collection

We're kicking ourselves for not taking photos inside the fruit stand, but we were in a rush to get home. So I went online to find photos of the varieties we purchased, and found a terrific resource, the University of California, Riverside Citrus Variety Collection website:  

UC Riverside, World Renowned Citrus Variety Collection

Each variety of citrus in the UCR collection has a carefully recorded provenance with photos. So, to take advantage of their photos, I've included links to the 6 varieties of citrus we purchased at the Murray Fruit Stand. Although we like all the citrus we bought, the Tarocco Blood Orange is our favorite. Click on each name for information on that specific variety:

1. Autumn Gold Naval Orange
2. Cocktail Pummelo Hybrid
3. Dancy Mandarin
4. Nagami Kumquat
5. Tahitian Pummelo
6. Tarocco Blood Orange

UC Riverside Citrus Days
One of these years, I hope to attend a UC Riverside Citrus Day to tour their citrus research areas and to taste more varieties. 

Whole Foods from the New World
Foods of the Americas Family Day Much closer to home and on my calendar, is the UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley on Sunday, October 5, 2014: Foods of the Americas Family Day (free with Garden admission). 

When life gives me lemons, I make

lemonade, or lemon viniagrette, or...