I felt very lucky this past winter to have tracked down a hefty portion of the citrus family tree.
There are many fruits, sigh, I know I will never see or eat, or scratch and sniff. But here is a portrait of many of my old friends and some new acquaintances. Although daunting, I approached, petted gently, felt their heft and examined smooth and dimply skin.
And much to my amazement just hours after reading about the Citron I found them at Berkeley Bowl! Of course I thought Buddha's Hand and Citron were the same but no! They are creatures altogether different!
Let's see if I can do the family portrait justice:
Two lime-lemony looking globes in upper left are Bergamot.
Two football-shaped deeply dimpled yellow fellows are the rare Citron.
The one sole dark orange placed between these two is the utterly delicious and hard-to-find Royal Mandarin.
Upper right displays many a playful Kumquat.
Right under these are two large and one very small shy Mineola Tangelo.
The two shiny orange small rounds are the favored Clementine.
And lastly, a fruit with mysterious origin, the lightest singular fruit just to the right of the setting, a Nugget Mandarin.
Don't huff and puff, I realize this does not include all cousins, great grandparents, popular originals and ubiquitous stand-outs. You know how busy everyone is! Can't get them all at one family occasion to save your life! (And not everyone gets along--- you know how that is...)
From all of us here at the puckery and sweet, sunshiny and seedy, sharp and soft family of citrus, thank you for a great year of eating, pickling, slicing, peeling, candy-ing, marmalade making, sectioning and all around enjoyment of our near and fars.
How fun...so many variaties to choose from!
Posted by: San Francisco Photorama | 25 March 2006 at 08:48 AM
Glorious photos of citrus varieties!! Great text too!!
Posted by: Dad and Ellen | 25 March 2006 at 05:11 PM
now that I have caught up on days past...I am truly back in the bay areas arms
Posted by: misha | 25 March 2006 at 07:22 PM
Thanks Shuna! I've never seen citron as a fresh fruit. Only dried and candied. Now I know.
Posted by: chronicler | 25 March 2006 at 10:42 PM
Great site. Great writing. Makes me miss Berkeley.
Posted by: Cynthia Copeland | 26 March 2006 at 03:12 PM
Shuna -
There are two citrus fruits which few Americans may have had the pleasure of tasting.
The first is the bitter orange - not really so bitter and intensely sour, it makes a gorgeous replacement for simply broiled or smoked fishes.
The second is a sweet lemon. It looks like a lemon, inside and out, with a marvelously heady fragrance. When you bite into the flesh, there is nothing remotely sour about it - it's all sweetness and flowers.
I found both of them, recently, at the Persian market for Nowruz...
Speaking of which - there are still some goodies at my house fr you!
Posted by: Fatemeh | 28 March 2006 at 02:48 PM
I was looking at Fatemeh's letter, and I wanted to tell you about the Citrus People. They have a stand at both the Alemany farmers market, and sometimes at Civic Center. They have all kind of citrus from Buddhas Hand to sweet lemons. I would bet the sour oranges are nestling against the Meyer lemons. Try them.
Posted by: Marjg | 09 April 2006 at 08:37 PM
Marjg---
I know Exactly who you are speaking of. They are also at the marin market and I buy from them often.
In fact they also grow the LIMEQUAT & the MANDARINQUAT!!!!! They are growing exceptional citrus and they come all the way from Fresno--- yesterday I thanked them fro driving all the way up here.
Posted by: shuna fish lydon | 10 April 2006 at 11:33 AM
I love love love these photos!
What can I say, these colors make me happy.
I really do need to order marmalade from that wonderful marmalade maker you mentioned here.
Anne
Posted by: Anne | 11 April 2006 at 01:22 PM