Have You all noticed Don from OKcitrus has made a new webpage announcing his new creation. www.citsumaquat.com
Has Don found the Holy Grail ? - Or is it a case of loving Your own child - It will be interesting to follow further developments.

Questions: Do somebody know him, and can make a visit and write a report here about it ? He always leaves fruit very long before harvesting, so there might still be a mature fruit to taste from this year !
Has anybody tasted his CitsumaquatTM ?

Don my friend, If You read this, we are all eagerly awaiting more info - not to speak of access to plant material for testing .

I believe there are quite a few of us that have been and continue to follow Don’s progress in breading citrus for a cold climate. We all wait anxiously for the release of his Citsumaquat™ or any other variety that may come to fruitions.

Thou I suspect that we well have to continue to wait,

Hi Michael

Thanks for noticing my new website!

"Has Don found the Holy Grail?" It will be close as I'll ever get in my lifetime.

"Or is it a case of loving Your own child." After many years of hard word leading to disappointment, I have grown very hard hearted. The rose colored glasses came off several years ago and I vowed to judge my creations as a bitter old skeptic.

Now for some news.

While moving the original f1 seedling specimen (always kept in greenhouse) a semi-ripe fruit broke off providing another taste test opportunity. Unlike previous tests this fruit is close to ripe and should give better insight into the "Holy Grail-ness" of Citsumaquat. So here it goes...

I'll start with my overall summation of the semi-ripe Citsumaquat fruit being almost verbatim like a Texas Sunquat fruit. It's build and texture was very Sunquatish except for being smaller with a thin, orange colored peel. It's peel removed easily but membranes are so thin and fruit so tender the sections ripped apart being rather messy. The taste was sharp, tart, lemony/kumquatish, with a slightly sweet after taste. The fruit was almost seedless but that could change with future harvests. Citsumaquat's peel seemed to be edible similar to a 'Nagami' kumquat's but I am not into the peel eating so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I'll wrap up this taste review with the declaration of absolutely no poncirus characteristics what-so-ever!

Now the pics!

The semi-ripe Citsumaquat's skin.


The semi-ripe Citsumaquat's fruit.


The semi-ripe Citsumaquat's tender fruit torn open.


Hi gdbanks,

"Thou I suspect that we well have to continue to wait," You know how it goes. I'll be lucky to have any ready for sale by 2012. Of course the whole project could be abandoned if a future winter freeze kills the outdoor specimens making it suspect for true zone 7 cold hardiness. For the record Citsumaquat has only proven itself cold hardy down to 6*f. (open field) and I want to see it survive zero in the open field or below zero in a microclimate to declare true zone 7 hardiness. Citsumaquat is far from being declared a "Holy Grail" until more hardiness and taste testing has happen over many more years.

Thanks for your interest!
Don

Thanks for the info Don. That fruit looks great! I'll anxiously await more info. Which kumquat do you think pollinated the mother plant?

Hi Matt,

The kumquat was it's mother. It's that offtype 'Nagami' kumquat that Tom McClendon sent as a procimequat. I still have not figured out exactly what I have with that strange kumquat. It is definitely a Nagami-ish kumquat but has some offtype characteristics like being very small (both plant and fruit) and having a small neck on the fruit. If the kumquat came from a procimequat seed then it must be a procimequat/Nagami hybrid but that should not be possible, otherwise Tom mistakenly sent a offtype Nagami. However, I don't know all that much about the fortunella genus so perhaps it's is a normal variation of 'Nagami' kumquat. No matter what, it monoembryonic and makes nice offspring!

Don,
Great work.
Put me on the list for 2012 plant sale... I'll take 2.
Terry

Hi Don,

Glad to hear more on Your progress, and to see those inviting pictures. Just keep us posted. Throw us a goodie at least 2-3 times a year or as often as You feel like it. I personally find these stories of planthunting and breeding intensely exciting and interesting.

I admire Your work greatly. And the work of other plant breeders. Just think about the development that happend with corn, or many fruit varieties, away from their small, sour and bitter wild state into the delicious, large, sweet fruits we cultivate today. I am convinced that many great things lie in wait in the Hardy Citrus category.

Just a thought: Couldn't it be that Your creations merit a life even if they don't make it past 0 degrees ? Don't You have some citrus-collector, enthusiast or researcher, friend or family somewhere in zone 8 that You trust, and who You could bestow with the important task of keeping a test-plot, collection-gene-bank of Your creations in zone 8 climate. ? - Maybe You are already doing this, but then please put my mind at rest, so I don't have to worry about a once in a century ice-winter returning just this year.

On the plus side You would also get more feedback from this warmer zone on how your varieties thrive - valuable material once You do start marketing the variety.

Best wishes for Your work and for a mild winter -or maybe a winter with deep snowcover and a quick dip to 0

Hi Folks,

I just taste tested the first fully ripened Citsumaquat and there is both good news and bad news.

I'll start with the good news, it tasted like a 'Nagami' kumquat. Now the bad news, it tasted like a 'Nagami' kumquat. I am in a quagmire of the plant being somewhat worthy, yet somewhat unworthy for further endeavors.

The sad fact is most people will find a 'Nagami' kumquat's taste unpleasant being far too sour. To be truthful, I personally never liked 'Nagami' kumquat's taste all that much. However, if a 'Nagami' kumquat was the only citrus that could be successfully grown in one's climate would that change one's taste of what's edible? In all practicality Citsumaquat could be viewed as a 'Nagami' kumquat that is cold hardy into the single digits, perhaps even colder. I really don't know if my new hybrid is what garden minded folks desire, so for now I'll await more cold hardiness and taste tests to decide on the fate of my Citsumaquat project.

Thanks for your interest!

Don,
It still sounds great to me.
The Nagami kumquat is too sour for out of hand eating for most people.
It is great for marmalade, pie and wine. For such culinary uses you need a citrus that can stand being diluted with other ingredients and still impact the flavor.
I have 7 or 8 different Kumquat trees. 3 of them are seedless. But they are still small.
So, I buy 5 to 10 lbs of Nagami kumquats each year and freeze them. That way I can make Kumquat Pie all year round.
So, keep me on the 2012 list for a tree.
Terry

Don,
Talking about taste:
Nagami fruit is my wife's favourite citrus fruit.
When that tree has fruits none is allowed even to look at it
My daughter likes Calamondins...
On the males side, I (and several male friends) sometimes eat fruits of my P. Trifoliata...
Mandarine Zorica Rana tastes too sweet (all other disagree) for me so I take a slice of Lemon with them sometimes.
Go figure...

Hi Don,

For me it would be nice to have.... In comparison to Thomasville -do the fruits ripen earlier? Because late ripening and being not cold hardy enough are the main problems with Thomasville.
Regards
Robert

Hi Terry,

I was thrilled my new hybrid was indeed "edible" because all zone 7 cold hardy 50/50 hybrids in my opinion are totally inedible. I felt like a winner because it tasted like a 'Nagami' kumquat but then had to face the fact that kumquats are not my or publics favorite "out of hand" edible citrus. Then again the 'Nagami' kumquat can be found at my local supermarket so somebody likes them. Culinary use helps but I really wanted "out of hand" edibility.

One strange thing is how the semi-ripe taste tests were far better with a slightly sweet lemony flavor tasting like a sunquat. Perhaps I let the fully ripened fruit ripen too long? Perhaps since this fully ripened fruit is a first fruit it was subpar and further crops might improve in flavor. I have more fruits about to start ripening and will test them at different stages of ripeness to discover the optimum state of ripeness.

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Hi ivica,

I like sour citrus too but have found the 'Nagami' kumquat's flavors to be slightly off from true citrus flavors. It's hard to describe but I always taste a spicy flavor within the sourness and never really liked it. The kumquat hybrids like Sunquat are a different story because the quat spiceness goes down and regular citrus sour go up. The semi-ripe Citsumaquat fruits were far better because of a lemony flavor covering up that 'Nagami' spicy flavor.

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Hi Roberto,

The fruits ripen much faster than 'Thomasville' citrangequat and semi-ripe fruits taste far better than Thomasville's. Cold hardiness is far better than Thomasville. I had several Thomasvilles and they would freeze to the ground around 10*f but Citsumaquat holds leaves down to 6*f. (so far).

Thanks for your interest!

Hi Don,
I definitely think you have created a winner!! Nagami similarity for z7 is not bad= i think its great. Your fruit may improve in taste as the trees age. I'm surprised in satsuma differences in fruit quality from year to year- depending on growing conditions. Nice to hear that the citsumaquat ripens earlier than t'ville citrangequat. Keep the faith!

Don,

We are many out here in the world-garden-landscape that love acid and bitter citrus fruits for culinary uses. I love bitter and acid lemon, lime, grape and orange-aromas. These fruits have so many usefull traits.

A Citsumaquat that could be used for its acid aromas in the kitchen when harvested early, and for its more complex kumquat-aromas later would really be a great find for Z 7-8 -gardens. Just one basic example for use, is to chop them up and make marmelade.

So don't give up on the Citsumaquat yet Don !
Of cause I agree that further taste tests has to be conducted, and please include a couple of citrus enthusiasts, a cook and others in these taste tests, as you have more fruit in coming years.

And do keep up the breeding work Don. Keep looking for that sweet, hardy edible citrus. We need people like You for the advance of hardy citrus. But until that is created, I am still a happy buyer of a Citsumaquat plant if it really is hardy and early ripening and not dominated by Poncirus trifoliata taste.

Don,

I just thought I'd chime in with Nagami Kumquat love, I have to say that it's my favorite citrus (well citrus like fruit, since it's not a true citrus). I just eat them out of hand, to me the tartness of the fruit is its best feature.

Anyway, the question occurred to me, how are you planning to handle distribution? With all the citrus quarantines in effect, it could be a problem shipping to any of the citrus producing states and that could be a problem for me since I'm in California.

Of course, since the Citsumaquat is still years away from distribution, maybe citrus canker and citrus greening might be controlled enough to bring down the quarantines by the time your ready to sell.