Has any tried this outside in northern areas?

Hardy Bitter lemon (Poncirus Trifoliata) - An extremely hardy

Citrus plant that is zone hardy up to USDA zone 5 !! Bitter Lemons have a very bitter juice that makes for a potent lemon substitute or the pulp can be used mixed with fresh kumquats for a marmalade. The fruit is also useful for recipes requiring citrus "zest". The flowers are fragrant and reminiscent of an orange tree blossom. In the northeast, there are large bitter lemon trees in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts proving this trees ability to really take the cold.

Do a Google on "Poncirus trifoliata" and you'll see that they are feeding you a line.

Poncirus trifoliata - Trifoliate orange. Neither a lemon nor an orange and so far as I am concerned wholly inedible. Good roostock for certain conditions, but not edible.

.....Alan.

Frank have a look here.

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/homecitrusgrowers/wheretoseePT/arnoldarboretum.htm

As a kid , I worked part time for a nearby dairy farmer that had one of these citrus trees. It was growing in a cattle holding pen about an acre in size. Nothing else was alive in this area except this tree. You can imagine what one hundred or so cattle do to the ground ,but the cows gave this tree respect and did not go near it.
One day when it had fruit I found out why the cows left it alone. After reaching in for an orange it drew first blood. My second pain came when I tried to eat the fruit. Trust me, the thorns didn’t hurt as much as the taste of this fruit.

Alan is correct, Poncirus Trifoliate is not Bitter Lemon. There are three uses for Poncirus Trifoliate - 1.) rootstock, - 2. Ornamental, - 3.Target practice. (taken from Hardy Citrus For The Southeast). Any marmalade or lemonade will taste terrible and have a long and awful after taste. - Millet

If I have the time, I will attempt at making wine out of these bitter stuff. They should be potentially good candidate, and remains to be tested for now.

Joe they are not bitter, they are terrible. The juice sticks to your fingers like glue.

Thanks for the info Laaz. These might be alkalloid based poisons then, so much the better for the effect. Perhaps it could kill the yeast instead, so I'll just steep them in Vodka and serve to achieve the desired painless results.

Laaz
Think maybe your miracle fruit would help the taste?
Karl

Isopropyl alcohol will remove the trifoliata goop from your hands and nails. Gasoline diesel or kerosone will not touch it.

Ahh, last but not least!
Frank, remember on your other thread when I said I planted my first P tirifoliate inground last winter as experiment? And that it died to ground but grew back cuz of warm winter? This was it!
I know EXACTLY where those words describing your P Tri. came from. It came from Worldwideplants which is where I bought mine from in '02! He (owner) described it as "bitter lemon hardy to zone 5...." & he lied. He tells ppl that to get ppl - like me, & you in ZONE 5, to buy one! T'was the very first citrus I bought. However, the GROWER of that citrus wrote a note on how to care for it, & said keep it indoors if frost occurs. I listened to the GROWER. That grower has nothing to do with SELLING plants from there....he grows them & ships them per order. He sent me specific instructions on care, because I asked for them, & what a guy!
That grower is here on this forum & maybe he will PM you if he sees this.
They are not edible fruit...only good for rootstock or show.
Only MIRACLE FRUIT will help the taste!

Miracle fruit could not help the taste of trifoliate orange. MF converts the "sour" taste bud signals sent to the brain to "sweet" signals. But Trifoliate is not merely sour (it is certainly sour); it also has that resinous, diesel-fuel-and sewage aftertaste that you have to deal with, and which stays with you for hours, no matter what you do.

I teach a course in tropical and temperate fruits, in which we try nearly anything that gets called a fruit. And I like most of what we try, even durian. But I have to say that the taste of trifoliate orange (or even the smell of one being opened up in the same room) really nauseates me. It's horrible, as all these folks have said.

Wow, such rare American you are Prof Manners! I can't seem to find another American who is able to eat durian. Durian, as they say, stinks like hell but tastes like heaven. Loaded with antioxidants, very rich fruit, and you could smell (sweat and breath) like durian for a week if you ate one sector of the fruit, however, you wouldn't taste like one.

I have tried a frozen durian from a chinese grocer in Houston, TX. Tasted very good to me, not like sewage or onions. It was also incredably rich.

I get a strong smell of rotting onions and essence of landfill from durian, but like a strong French cheese, I love them anyway.

Malcolm