hello all, this is my first post here. i already have a meyer lemon (in a container, too cold for in ground). A local nursery is selling variegated kumquat, and i want to know the palatability of this cultivar. I don't wan't to grow something that won't produce good fruit. SO, how does it taste?

Thanks!!!

It's sour & not much use, except being variegated.

Well, they do tast better than the Nagami kumquats you can get in the grocery store... My Centennial tastes fine to me, but Meiwa is the best.

Yes the Meiwa is a sweet kumquat.

I got it for the plant itself. I think it looks great. The fruit looks cool also.

THanks. So if it's between nagami and centennial, and i'm looking at taste, co centennial?

I believe it is a variegated Nagami...

I believe it should be slightly different than Nagami in taste. Centennial is a bud sport from an open pollinated Nagami selection.

Here is what UCR has to say on it's origin:

Quote:

Parentage/origins: "Centennial" resulted from a spontaneous variegated mutation observed by HC Barrett in 1986 on a small twig of US 1515, an unnamed breeding selection. US 1515 orginated from open pollinated seed of "Nagami" kumquat planted at the AH Whitmore Foundation Farm, Leesburg, FL in 1975.

And here is UCRs description of the fruit in comparison to Nagami:

Quote:

DK, 1/2009: There is a much greater proportion of juicy flesh and a thinner peel than one finds in Nagami kumquat. Nagami has a simple oval shape, but Centennial Variegated is rounder, with a short neck. Since US 1515, the parent tree from which the mutation occurred originated from open-pollinated seed of 'Nagami' kumquat, it seems likely that this parent was in fact a kumquat hybrid, possibly with mandarin.

The fruit from my own tree match the above description closely. I would add that my Centennial fruit seem to be larger than the typical Nagami fruit I see. Also, as I mentioned earlier, the fruit taste much better than store-bought Nagami fruit and are not nearly as acidic (I don't have my own Nagami for comparison, but I would expect the two would be much closer in taste).


Here's a few pics of my Centennial fruit from early June:



Next to a store bought Spanish clementine for size comparison

One of mine. As you see mine are a bit more egg shaped.

Interesting. Laaz, your Centennial fruit certainly look more like Nagami than mine. How many segments to they have, my fruit typically have 7 or so. I wonder if difference in appearance has anything to do with the fact that my fruit spent half of their life indoors during winter.

If the differences in the fruit are a cultural issue, I would expect plantlover13 to have results more similar to mine since his tree would be indoors during winter.

UCR's description of the Nagami Kumquat says " thinner peel than one finds in Nagami kumquat", as if a thicker peel is a negative. It is the thicker peel of the Nagami that most people like about the fruit, because the peel is the sweet portion of the fruit. Most everyone that visits my citrus collection makes positive comments wen they sample Nagami's sweet - sour taste. There must be a reason why Nagami is the only kumquat that most stores offer for sale to the public. - Millet

Millet, I had also always thought that the thicker the peel, the better with kumquats. The first time I ate one of my Centennials, I was prepared for it to be incredibly acid with very little sweetness due to the absence of a thick peel. I was surprised to find that the flesh was less acidic and somewhat sweeter than anticipated, which made up for the thinness of the peel.

I thought it was meiwa that was best, though, right?

So variegated (for once) seems to be better than not variegated.

Wait, didn't someone say it tasted Horrible?

I'm confused?

I believe most of it boils down to whether or not you like kumquats at all. Its just an issue of personal preference. There are many people that don't care for the taste and/or acidity, others think they taste fine.

Nagami is the only variety likely to be found in the grocery store, but quite a few home citrus growers prefer Meiwa. Personally, although I do not have a tree, Meiwa is my favorite.

With the Centennial I was only comparing it to store bought Nagami, which I generally do not care for... usually the quality of the store fruit is poor.

OK, so if i wanted a kumquat for eating (i have already decided that i most certainly DO like kumquats), it would be worth the 40 bucks to get a tree, and would taste BETTER than store bought? or would i be wasting my money on a bunch of hype and end up with pretty but useless fruit?

Sorry, just sort of confused.