I had my first taste of trifoliate orange. It wasn't nearly as bad as all the talk had led me to expect. I'm quite hopeful now for my hybrids. (I got a Thomasville and a citrumelo this spring from Stan McKenzie.) A friend showed me the trifoliate trees last Saturday and asked me what they were. There were maybe a dozen multi-stemmed bushes about 10-12' tall growing in what appears to have once been a hedge row but with random gaps now and overgrown with 30' tall pines and oaks. This is in zone 7 North Carolina north of I-40 and right along I-77. The ones in full shade weren't hardly fruiting, but there was one at the edge of the woods, still in fairly heavy shade, that had maybe a hundred small fruits. The fruits mostly had a green area still covering maybe a quarter of the surface. They were about golf ball size. I squeezed some juice out and tried it straight, and it seemed pretty much like a strong, very sour lemon. I let my children try some -- they like some sour things like roselle, buttermilk, sauerkraut -- and when my 7 year old daughter saw me with the remaining fruits later she asked for more juice just to drink straight, for whatever that says about the taste. Other than being very sour and strong I didn't perceive any off flavors. I had 8 fruits left over tonight, so we made mayonnaise with the juice. I had heard suggestions that each fruit might only have a drop or two of juice, but we got 2 tablespoons of juice from the 8 fruits (so nearly a teaspoon per fruit.) The mayonnaise seemed totally normal. There were definitely a lot of seeds, maybe about 20 seeds very roughly 5/16" long and 1/8-3/16" in cross-section.

Any pointers on growing out some of the seeds? I don't know if I'll ever even set the plants out, but I'd like to try growing some seedlings in pots at least. I assume it's okay to let the seeds dry out. Will they require any kind of treatment/stratification before sowing?

You a smoker with no tastebuds?

Sow seeds immediately. A day or to of drying won't hurt them but no more than that.

After posting above I went to clean the seeds left over from this evening, and as I was washing the seeds I saw some pulp floating in with them. I ate it, and there was definitely a nasty taste to the pulp that I hadn't picked up in the juice (although these were different fruits from the same tree.) It was an aftertaste that didn't hit me for 2 or 3 seconds and then it lingered. Other than coming from a different fruit or having been washed in water is there any reason I would have noticed the off taste in the pulp and not the juice? I can't say the nasty taste was overpowering, but it was plenty noticeable in the pulp.

MrT, thanks for the advice on sowing the seeds.

I tasted trifoliate orange for the 1st time last fall after finding a tree growing right in the middle of town.

Kind of hard to describe, but for me, the juice had a skunky, musky flavor.
Pretty much what you described.

On the other hand, I really like the plant for its ornamental uses and have planted over 20 in my yard that I grew from seeds. One of them shot up to 7 feet this year after being in the ground maybe 2 years.

I'm trying to figure out what I will use the fruit for once they start fruiting- maybe a natural paint remover?


I already have cold hardy edible citrus, so I don't see any reason to try to find an edible use for PT. Even "lemon aide" made from the berries of my staghorn sumac tastes much better than trifoliate.

Eric, I tried one of the fruits you sent and I agree with you, really not as bad as I was expecting it to be. (no, I've never smoked! Just desperate to grow citus outside!) Though I do think there's an off flavor beyond sour, I also thought it was usable. I made up a "lemonaid" and although I didn't think it was great, it definitely made me look forward to fruit from all the Poncirus hybrids I've been collecting. Thanks again.

Rubbing alcohol does an excellent job of removing trifoliata residue from the hands and fingers.

Different people have different perceptions of the taste and smell of Poncirus fruit.
This has been known for a long time -- see earlier thread at
link

"They are very aromatic and a few of them will scent up a whole room. To many people the odor is quite pleasant, suggesting Eau de Cologne; others find it rank and disagreeable."

Maybe there are different varieties with different scent? The ones I have access to are really disgusting (to me)!