what am I?

A few months ago in the Wednesday section of the NY Times I cut out a tiny description of a fruit I though I might not see either ever, or for some time to come. The MANDARINQUAT. For one thing, thank goodness for those who graft and play with seeds. They can cross these delicious fruits together and then name them! This is a word I want to say over and over. I want to make it a pet name. I think we could eliminate "honey" forever. (An annoying and completely generic sweet nothing, if you ask me.) I would rather be called mandarinquat any day. In fact this could pull in some big points on the Scrabble board.

But the other day my new little fruit dream came true. Last week The Baker's Dozen had a meeting on Citrus and we were privileged enough to have Andy Powning, our California fruit treasure, a master gardener who works with Greenleaf, (a produce distributor focused on local, organic and ripe fruit, vegetables and hand picked food products), come speak and show off citrus from his very own garden in Oakland. He showed off an organic Seville and Bergamot, teency tiny Kaffir limes, the regal Mineola with its outie, the new and mysterious Tavaris Lime (on the right of the mandarinquat pictured here) and  ONE mandarinquat!

It pays to dress up handsomely, ask a lot of good questions, and prod the speaker with wicked  bantering. Because I am the lucky one who went home with this absolutely beautiful specimen. The mandarinquat.

Comments

[Dr. Biggles]

Mandarinquat? How do I get mines? I'll plant a tree. I'm planning on doing a Lime tree this year anyways. Now what I need is a mandarinquat meat marinade ... bet it'd be good with chicken. Yum.

Senior Biggles

[Dr. Biggles]

Uh, hey. I'm thinkin' I should learn how to make a tart. When I've asked around about what citrus would go nicely on a tart, I get funny looks. Should citrus not be applied to thine tart?

Senior Biggles

[Steven Hamori]

What did it taste like? Much like a mandarin by chance? Never can tell with hybrids.

Cheers