I bought a sunquat, on sale, last year at a big box store. Does anyone know what they taste like and the size of the fruit???

Bill

I have a Sunquat which is presently in fruit. The fruit are just a little larger than a golf ball, and the taste reminds me of a washed out lemon, nothing special, however they do put out a lot of fruit. Sunquats first bloom as a single bloom, and then later additional blooms can develop a small iinflorescence, but some stay a single bloom located within each node. This bloom occurs up and down the branch. As citrus trees go Sunquat, Eustis Limequat (when I was at CCPP, the workers called them "Useless Limequats") and the like, have value as a collector tree, but because of the low quality of the fruit, will never gain any sort of commercial potential - Millet

Have you tried eating the rinds of these? The *quat types (Fortunella and their hybrids) of citruses are known for their edible sweet rinds.

Yes, Joe I did taste the rind. It is not as sweet as a Kumquat, but nowhere as stringent as an orange peel. The peel is on the bland side. - Millet

This is definitely one for the collector. I had one in the ground that fruited from seed in 2 years at 8 feet tall. The several dozen fruit convinced me I only wanted a container plant as a few fruit a year are enough for me. I topworked my sunquat to changshou kumquat. The fruit can get as large as a satsuma with the shape of a giant kumquat. Like other kumquats/kumquat hybrids the fruit is really late. It can be eaten around Thanksgiving but is sour. If you wait until February or March, the fruit is sweet. Sweet in February is not an endearing quality in a marginal citrus growing area. It makes a rather uninteresting marmalaide. I like the peel the most. I have met two of the discoverers of sunquat in Houston, TX, Bill Chapman and Louis Waldon. They are getting on in years as it was discovered in 1959 under a clementine tree in a Friendswood, TX citrus orchard. I am growing mine for the seeds to be used as rootstock for kumquat. I find budding kumquat to trifoliate orange difficult. A nice article on sunquat is in the December 1993 issue of Fruit Gardener.

The people at Monterey Bay Nursery are selling trees and are obviously embellishing the attributes of Eustis a little (lot?). I see Eustis as a pretty good lime substitute but not better than a Key/Mexican lime. They are definitely not as "hardy as a kumquat". I have found that hardiness is more like that of a Meyer Lemon - around 20 degrees for brief periods, maybe a little less.

Like Lazz, I like the sweet/sour taste of the Sunquat, and it doesn't take too many to satisfy my desire for them. I have never been too keen on the rind of these kumquat hybrids. As far as I am concerned, there are better things to eat that citrus rind. For me, the rind is alright in marmalade, but not to eat out of hand.

Ned

I'm not a connoisseur of limes so I can't say how they compare but I don't consider them to be useless. The taste is certainly good enough for kitchen use. I do like the tree for its ornamental quality and its ability to produce flowers and fruit indoors.