I know, old-timers will think I am obsessed with citrus sex. But I find the topic of natural citrus cross-breeding to be oddly interesting. I once wrote about a citrus gang-bang — resulting in Makrumons, Kalakruts, Lemmes, dakruts, makyaps, makrukaladays, etc., here. So at the Nasugbu market the other weekend, I spotted a pile of unusually large looking kalamansi fruit and asked my suki what they were. She said “kalamansi from the tree in her backyard” and when i pressed and said they didn’t quite look like kalamansi nor smell like kalamansi, she agreed that perhaps they were born out of a kalamansi mother messing around with a dalandan dude or the other way around. :)
I bought three kilos. Back at the beach house, a quick slice revealed contents (first photo up top) that showed the fruit on the right was juicier, more orange, bigger and slightly sweeter than a kalamansi we took out of our fridge. Definitely a mixture of citrus I would say…
Even the texture of the skin, shape of the fruit, etc. seemed to point to a cross between a dalandan and a kalamansi, hence the title of the post… dalanmansis or kalandans. They made a really nice refreshing kalandan juice, with some added sugar syrup. I also used them on the large grilled prawns we made on the same trip. I have saved some seeds and hope to plant them in Cebu, and maybe encourage more inter-citrus breeding… :)
8 Responses
How very cool. Do you want some passion fruit to plant in Cebu? I sprouted seeds from some super sweet fruit from Bali. I don’t get enough full sun to have them fruit here :-(
In general, citrus from seed do not really bear the same fruit as their parent tree. Best to buy grafted planting materials from your trusted nursery. Apples and papayas ganyan din.
interesting! just like one of my favorite fruits, tangelos! i just hope we don’t lose the true kalamansi fruit one day.
MM – Thanks for the very interesting post. I’m not an expert on citrus either but as a small farm owner, I’ve planted several grafted kalamansi seedlings that have been fruiting now. The young rootstocks (where the mature kalamansi branches or ‘scions’ are inserted or grafted) used are called kalamandarin. Some of those we planted were not taken care of properly and the kalamandarin rootstocks completely outgrew the kalamansi scions and bore fruits that look exactly similar to the ones in your photos. So, I believe the fruits can rightly be called ‘kalamandarin’ as well.
Could it be like our kalamunding in Negros? A tad bigger than the kalamansi but with that hint of orange.
marghi, could be, could be… phil, I like kalamandarin as well. :)
Does this dry up when a bit overripe? Or when the rind turns yellow even when still on the tree?
how to do crossbreeding between calamansi and dalandan?