I had to google 4 things to understand this post!
By the end I learned a bunch of new types of citrus though. Have you tasted all of them
@Pulsegleaner?
Most (I missed my chance on the kabosu).
I've tried blood oranges and they were not great, no real sweetness, but that may have been those particular fruits. Maybe others from elsewhere would taste different.
Yes, but I'm not sure you'd like the other kind either. Setting aside formal variety names, there are basically two kinds, what I think of as the "old" kind and the new kind. Since you're more likely to run into the latter now, I start with that. Most of what Sunkist and the like sell now are the "new type" which basically look like a regular orange with a bit of a blush/sunburn on one side of the peel, and, when peeled, reveal flesh that is a mixture of pinkish red and orange. I tend to find this kind way too sour for my taste.
The other kind, what I think of as the "old" or "classic" blood orange (and bear in mind that, since you need two types to get good pollination, finding both kinds in the same pile is hardly unusual). Compared to the others, these are much smoother, usually are sort of bronzy in color, up to almost a milk chocolate hue, and will have a pronounced green/brown shade to the oil pore on the peel (the "dots") They also ten to be a bit oblong (taller than wide). When opened the flesh of these will be a deep pure dark purplish red, with no sign of orange AT ALL. This ones taste is a little more complicated. On one hand, it has decided raspberry notes to it. On the other, to someone used to sweet oranges, it can actually taste kind of bitter.)
There are two other things you just might see called "blood oranges". One is the mango orange, will will look normal from the outside, but will have pink pith and wedges when you peel it (actually the juice cells are a normal orange, it's just the parchment around them that is pink (and these are different that the Cara Cara orange, which is also pink inside, but much larger.) The flavor of these is odd, since they are one of those citruses that has NO acid, so they taste like extremely sweetened slightly raspberry flavored water.)
On one occasion I also bumped into something called a Red Mandarin, which is, as it sounds like a red fleshed tangerine. I liked those, but they seem to be REALLY rare.
Prosaic as they might be, I do quite enjoy navel oranges.
I also like SOME, specifically, those from a company called Paramount Citrus. It's the only of the dozen or so brands of them we get around here I find worth it.
I once tried some kumquats as well. I didn't know how to eat them, so I peeled them, which I think was incorrect, and didn't leave much left to eat either.
Yeah, with kumquats, the peel is the part you are SUPPOSED TO Eat, it's where the sweetness is (though it is also a bit astringent). It makes a nice drink when added to lemonade, or any other tart citrus-ade.
If you get a choice, Meiwa (the oval kind) is supposedly sweeter than the other one (the cylinder shaped one).
But the taste of what I did eat was very, very good. I had some Persian friends that were really into eating some kind citrus that was dried and grated. It seemed rather unlike any other use for citrus I'd heard before, they really loved it. I wish now that the one time that I went to eat with them to an Iranian restaurant that I had tried a dish with that citrus.
That sounds like Persian black lime, which is simply a regular lime that has been dried. Persians use it a lot in cooking. The fact they prefer it from home is more national pride than anything inherently special about the limes, I think.
Assuming they sell them I find Dekopons (commercially known as Sumo Mandarins) to be quite pleasant, very sweet, only lightly acidic and (for a tangerine) ENORMOUS (they're the size of a large navel or juice orange, or even bigger!)
Uglifruit can also be good IF you know how to pick them. ALWAYS go for the ones with the yellowest or (even better) orangest peels (NEVER mostly green) Green ones tend to take their taste from the grapefruit side of the family, orange from the tangerine one.
I'm just sorry I can't hunt around here; Chinatown often has pummelos that are the size of basketballs!.
i do not always peel off the white part or the membranes even on grapefruits, i don't mind bitter tastes, yes, it is harsh, but i just eat it anyways figuring it is extra fiber and as far as i know (i must have read it someplace) there is more vitamin C in that pith than in the juicy pulp (but i'm sure it varies by fruit).
