I love the flavor of indio mandarinquat when they are at their peak. I sample taste some batches and they can be very good. I usually just munch away at the rind and leave the flesh. It is very satisfying. Meiwa should be better tasting when eating the whole fruit, then I would place indio mandarinquat next, and nagami last. However, the Fukushu kumquat beats them all, the rind is so sweet and so soft that it seems to melt in your tongue.

Thanks Joe!! Now I've got another quat for my list..
I have procimequat seedlings.. the fruit I ate was so cute.. and yummy tart!! almost nothing but seed and rind.. just have to wait a few yrs for fruit from my seedlings..

I've only ever seen Nagami for sale in stores here in late spring..

Gina *BabyBlue*

Good pictures Joe, thanks!

Have you compared the Indio Mandarinquat with Nippon Orangequat? The picture you have posted looks very much like the Nippon. I was wondering how they compare in taste? My Nippons have edible skin, with deep orange (almost red) flesh and are very tart. They are shaped like the Indio's in your pictures. I have not tried it yet, but imagine they would make great marmalade.

Ned

I just got the Nippon Orangequat. For sure it was grafted unto my 61-n-1 tree, and I would check if I have grafted it also on the Frankenquat tree. It was grafted this fall, so perhaps within 18 months I'll have some fruits. Then I could compare them.

Perhaps I can help a little Ned. In my experience the Indio Mandarinquat is more tart than the Nippon orangequat. Maybe I should let my Indios ripen more but the Nippons seem to have a little more mandarin flavor mixed in than just tart/sour flavor as with the Indio.

Check out this previous post about Indio Mandarinquats:
link

To add to the mix here is the rare Tiawaniquat (Tiawanica x Kumquat) This one is most like Indio to me with more sour than anything else but still quite edible. The plus with this one is that is survives outdoors here with our winters:





And another elusive fruit is the Razzlequat. This one is a really shy bearer and is much more of a novelty for the collector:

Thanks Joe & g. In the pictures they sure look a lot alike. Right now my Nippon is pretty tart too. I like the taste, but it would be too tart for most people. Seems like I remember it being sweeter late last winter. I think it sweetens up some if it gets to stay on the tree through the winter. I have a Indio Mandarinquat, grown from budwood Joe sent me about a year ago. Maybe it will have a fruit or two next year.

Seems like I budded a taiwanicaquat from some wood you gave me last year. I need to look it up and see how it is doing.

I have been tasting some fruit from my "Lemonquat", which I imagine is a Sunquat or Mandarinquat. They are the size of a large lemon, but round and without the nipple of a regular lemon. When ripe they are yellow and have a sweet-tart taste, with very tender, edible skin and not a lot of seed. They are another tart fruit that I enjoy, and that seems to sweeten with time.

Ned

All of my ripe Indio Mandarinquats are gone! And I have about 2 gallons of Indio Mandarinquat wine a-brewing!

Wines made during the winter will usually have stronger alcohol content and are relatively dry compared to other times of the year in a zone 9 climate.

the next batch of Indio Mandarinquats would be used for making marmalades.

Let us know how the wine and marmalade turn out Joe. I tasted a couple of Nippons today and they have sweetened quite a bit. Taste like a very tart mandarin.

Ned

This might be a twist on the subject at hand, but if you can eat the skins of kumquats and mandarinquats, does anyone happen to know what vitamins or nutritional value found in the skin and how it differs from that found in the flesh? Just curious. . .

Phillip

let me guess quickly...
I am quite certain that researchers will invent new chemical terms like Fortunellenes or kumquatinones as the substances found in those skins,

KUMQUAT EATING SECRET REVEALED!

Well, we are eating kumquats skin and all, which means all the oils in the skin which are composed of terpenes and limonene, which most citruses are by the way.

Prior to gobbling that whole piece of fruit, try to squash it lightly in your hands with paper towel to squeeze out the oils. The squashing or squeezing gently should push out the oils and absorbed by the paper towel. Now try eating the kumquat prepared this way. You will find that it would even have a sweeter rind because you remove most of the terpenes and limonene from the rind.

Most literature that I read about nutritional analysis of kumquats most probably do not include the rinds in the analysis. Tell-tale signs are that the oil content is far too low which means that the peels were not included in the chemical assay.

If I were to guess, because of the skin, we generally have more carotenoids and oils compared to oranges and other citruses and thus the general composition of whole kumquat fruits should include:
carotenoids, flavonoids, isothiocyanates, phenols, vitamin C, terpenes, other oils

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2621.1983.tb05090.x
In this study 120 compounds were found and 71 volatile compounds were identified in the essential oil of kumquat. A simultaneous distillation/extraction technique was used to obtain the essential oil from the fruit. Individual compounds were identified by means of Kovats retention indices on polar and nonpolar columns and mass spectral data. Some 13 sesquiterpenes, 8 terpenes, 11 alcohols, 1 ketone, 8 aldehydes and 13 esters were identified in kumquat oil for the fist time. Limonene was the most abundant compound comprising 93% of the whole oil.