Categorized | Agriculture, Featured

Farming with Love: Citrus in the islands

Tangerines (Photo by Baron Sekiya/Hawaii247.com)

Tangerines (Photo by Baron Sekiya/Hawaii247.com)

Ken Love/Special to Hawaii247.com

Variety is the spice of life especially when it comes to fruit. Take citrus for example, Most of us think of an orange as an orange, perhaps as a navel orange and a juice orange. While working to develop a poster on Big Island citrus I’ve found more than 25 different oranges that vary in size, taste, harvest times and shape. We’ve found 10 types of grapefruit, eight limes, dozens of tangerines or mandarins, a half dozen tangelo and a dozen pummelo or zabon.

Also called shaddock, jabon, pomelo, limau abong and pompelmoes (Dutch), the pummelo has traditionally been under utilized. Originating in South East Asia, It was an early favorite of the great botanist David Fairchild who first tasted it in 1899. Further details on pummelo can be found at

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/pummelo.html

The old homes and farms in Hawaii usually had a pummelo tree in the yard, yet the fruit seems to have fallen out of favor with younger generations. “Too sour” is the reply received when the fruit is offered at parties. The sour can be caused by two primary reasons, a poor variety or seedling and the fruit was picked too early. It does bother me that some stores will sell green pummelo shipped in from California when we do have much superior fruit in Hawaii.

Generally we need to do a better job of marketing and education on
the fruit. The thick rind and seeds often put off chefs who would otherwise enjoy working with the fruit. The best candy I’ve ever had was pummelo rind processed over a three-day period in alternating ice water and boiling water. This Southern Japan recipe was done for the new years holiday along with mochi rice.

Citrus belongs to the family Rutaceae, which also includes white sapote, wampee, bael fruit and wood apple. It’s a favorite of those
horticulturalists who hybridize plants.

A lot of Kona grown citrus sadly goes to waste. It’s beyond my comprehension why stores and wholesalers continue to import oranges, tangerines and grapefruit into Hawaii.

Tangelos are another crop that we grow that deserves more promotion in the state. Tangelos can be accidental or manmade hybrids between tangerines or mandarins and grapefruit and pummelo. Arguably, Minneola is the most popular tangelo. It’s a cross between a Dancy tangerine and a Bowen grapefruit.

Most tangelos were developed in Florida in the late 1800s. Tangelos, from well cared for trees will often color fully and perfectly. When they turn to darker orange they are extremely sweet and juicy yet people not familiar with them tend to choose oranges and tangerines at the farmers market.

At least until they’ve tried one. If you haven’t, make sure you pick one up at one of Hawaii’s farmers markets. Many of us are hard pressed to go back to oranges after a perfect tangelo.

Designing and planting an orchard requires a well thought out plan. For me, with citrus, my first thought is what I will want to eat, cook with and possible market. At first I’m going to look at varieties within each citrus classification. I’m going to check with the National Agriculture Statistics Service records on what is currently grown and sold and with the chefs and local wholesalers.

Based on this I would plant more tangelos to enjoy myself as well as have some for marketing. I would plant more Meyer lemon and perhaps other lemons like Eureka, Lisbon and Ponderosa depending on the area and elevation I’m planting.

I would only want one Tahitian lime and one or two Kona Rangpur lime for home use and jelly making. For oranges I would choose three or more varieties that colored well including the old standby Washington Navel and newcomer Lane Late.

I would also plant one green-fleshed pummelo a few different tangerines and a Calamonsie or two. Calamonsie does very well in Hawaii, grows fast and is often loaded with fruit. It’s extremely versatile as a mild lime. Very similar to kumquat it can be used much the same way.

All in all I want a large variety to eat and that have market potential. I
have to remember that when my fruit is ready to sell, so is everyone else’s.

So, I’ll look for unusual varieties that may ripen at slightly different
times or that I can promote as being different or special. The point being, don’t just plant an orange, research the different varieties and plant a specific type of orange.

Internet resources:

National Agriculture Statistics Service
http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Hawaii/index.asp

Citrus Collection in Riverside, Calif.
http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/

University of Hawaii
http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/2345

Fruits of Warm Climates
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/index.html

(Eds. Note: Farming with Love is a semi-regular column by Kona resident Ken Love, a specialist in tropical fruit horticulture and market development. Love works on local sustainability issues for Hawaii farmers, value-added product development and farmer-chef relations. Contact Love at kenlove@kona.net)

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