As I research Calamondin I am finding some mixed information. I have never eaten one so I have no idea. Some say the fruit is great to eat like a kumquat - although the juice is sour, the sweet skin makes for a nice combination. Others say it has off/bitter flavors and it is not worth much more then juice or as an ornamental. For those of you that have a Calamondin tree, what do you think about the eating quality and it's overall usefulness?

A good additive too other juices but too it eat? Hmm I've done it before and it it very sour.

I have a very large tree, the fruit is not for eating unless you like very sour fruit. I use the fruit on burgers & steaks, squeeze them over any meat on the grill and they are great.

It is a big part of the diet in the Philippines and it is used like a lime or lemon to squeeze on food before eating.

I had a calamondin tree, in fact a variegated calamondin tree. In my opinion the fruit is completely useless to eat, and the tree is worthless to grow, but I do confess that calamondin trees make a great addition to toss onto a compost pile. (Sorry about that Mr. Compost pile but at times we all must take the bad with the good) - Millet (292 BO-)

Very sour and full of seeds

I'll have to disagree with Millet in that I think it is a worthwhile fruit to grow if you have use for sour citrus. It's not for eating out of hand in my opinion. Then again I don't care for eating kumquats of any variety out of hand.

But I do like to have a sour citrus on hand and it's nice to have one that's not lemon or lime in flavor. And it's fairly cold hardy as well.

I find it to be a highly decorative plant , and a must-have for every citrus grower .

I would agree they are very ornamental & they work well in a slingshot when you want to piss off the neighbors.

I have a very small variegated calamondin tree and the fruits of my particular tree are great to eat out of hand - sweet skin, mildly sour flesh and juice (much less sour than a nagami kumquat), with only a very slight hint of bitterness at the end which is pleasant. Very seedy though, up to 12 seeds per fruit (always produce albino seedlings which always die).

Overall I rate them as superior to the nagami kumquats I bought from the market around Christmas time, which are nice but way too sour to enjoy out of hand.

It seems I am very lucky and have a strain of calamondin which is only mildly sour.

Millet your post made me laugh I envy your compost pile, especially now that you're throwing out alot of your collection lol.

I eat my calamondin fruit direct off the tree when almost over ripe and I find I like the sour/sweet flavor.

The calamondin I tasted was tooooo sour for me. And yes, I can eat a lemon just off the tree too. Perhaps, fellows in Europe enjoy a different cultivar?