Those were just our observations which may seem contradictory to what others have written about, could be due to different context as not all factors can ever be accounted for in any one scientific study.

But, it doesn't matter for me, and what I don't like is the peels getting thicker on the lisbon lemons, which makes it excruciatingly harder to press with bare hands just to get the juice. I will just harvest it on time, perhaps make frozen lemon cubes, rather than have the peels grow on the tree,

Based on my observations, I cannot say with certainty, whether the peel continued to expand or the fruit shrank as I did not measure the individual fruits over time with calipers-- maybe next yr, but the fruits were certainly juicy and not noticably smaller than before.

The fruit was left on the tree past maturity, and the puffiness was caused due to shrinkage of the pulp.

Yes, this is true and does happen with some of the Mandarins and Sweet Oranges. Was rather common in one of the Owari type clones out here. Was considered to be a genetic abnormality at one time but when more than one Citrus type were observed to have it then a "rethink" was in order.

The obverse of this kind of puffiness is this below.

Based on my observations of some of my mandarins, like Yosemite Gold, the rinds grew bigger, sometimes as big as grapefruits, the segments inside remained juicy but the same size as the others which did not grew bigger.

Some of the mandarins would become granulated though, or will have dry portions on the flesh plus the puffiness, observed in my Owari Satsumas.

This is also true in that the rinds can become thicker while the pulp does not shrink in size. In some of the Tangerines it is the albedo that loses moisture giving the impression that the pulp has shrunk but when we go back in we realize that the albedo is what has scaled down and has become drier. Oddly enough this is what can separate some of the Mandarin forms from the true Tangerines. The Fancher Creek Tangerine is a Tangerine whereas the Fawcett plant (Clementine) is a Mandarin. The olden day "zipper skins" were known to seemingly have their rinds grow (become thicker) while the pulp remained the same size. More commonly was seen with Tangerines grown in Southern California more so than in Northern California which dispels the notion that the condition is or was attributed to cold. More likely due to lack of water movement in the tree. Then once past maturity and left on the tree or in areas that have been enduring a cold spell like we have been around here off an on since November, there can be a graininess to the pulp. Dryness to the flesh along with the graininess (crystalization) in the pulp is generally caused by prolonged cold chill along with the dispersal of water from epidermal cells as the fruit is ripening.

Jim

Thanks for the great information Jim!