TABLE OF CONTENTS
Best Asian Citrus Fruit Types
Calamansi (lat. Citrus × microcarpa) is a small citrus fruit hybrid native to the Philippines and widely used across Southeast Asia.
The fruit is spherical, typically about 20 to 25 millimeters in diameter, and has a green to golden yellow color when ripe. Despite its small size, calamansi packs a flavorful punch and is highly aromatic. The taste of calamansi is a unique blend of sweet and sour, similar to a cross between a lime and a mandarin orange, making it versatile in both culinary and beverage applications.
Guanxi Mi You is a pomelo of the Citrus grandis variety, produced in the paddy fields, hills and plains of the 16 towns and villages in Pinghe County in China, where the high amount of sunshine and sunny days contribute to the accumulation of vitamins, acids and sugar in the fruit, accentuating the fruit's unique sweet-and-sour taste.
On the exterior, pomelo has an inverted oval shape and delicate, thin and smooth skin that is bright orange in colour. On the interior, the flesh is tender and crisp in texture, very juice and the taste is deliciously sweet and slightly reminiscent of vinegar.
Originally developed by Arab farmers, Jaffa orange is an Israeli orange variety grown in the Middle East and the Mediterranean. The orange is believed to have been developed through a mutation of the baladi orange variety back in the mid-19th century near Jaffa, an ancient Palestinian port city that soon became the main center of production and export of the fruit, thereby lending it its name.
Also known as shamouti orange or Jaffa shamouti orange, the fruit is oval-shaped with a thick skin that surrounds the sweet and moderately juicy flesh. This orange contains only a few seeds and is highly appreciated for its tough, yet easy-to-peel skin which gives the fruit its long shelf life.
Makrut lime is an evergreen shrub that’s native to Southeast Asia. The fruits are green when unripe, turning yellow when ripe. The rind is warty, rough, and thick, while the pulp is very acidic and juicy with a few whitish seeds. The sour juice is often used in desserts, ice cream, beverages, and some seafood dishes.
Makrut lime leaves are very aromatic and used as a spice that adds flavor to savory and spicy stir-fries, curries, and tom yum soup. The rind contains aromatic oil which is used to flavor rum and liqueurs.
Meyer lemons are a type of citrus fruit native to China, a cross between a citron (an "original" lemon) and a mandarin/pomelo hybrid. They were introduced to the United States in the early 20th century by a man named Frank Nicholas Meyer, after whom they are named.
Compared to the common lemon (citrus limon), Meyer lemons are smaller and more round, with a deep yellow to orange skin and dark yellow pulp. They have thinner, smoother skin and are less acidic, which makes them sweeter than their more tart counterparts.
Khasi mandarin (Citrus reticulata) is a unique fruit cultivated in the Indian state of Meghalaya. The trees grow on steep slopes in chalky soil and in very hot climate. The villages, however, are located at the bottom of these steep valleys, so the villagers must carry the baskets filled with Khasi mandarins on foot across 5,000 to 10,000 stone steps, depending on the location of the trees.
The mandarins are somewhat larger than a tennis ball. They are bright orange in color, quite hard to peel, while on the inside, there is a sweet, aromatic juice. The fruits are traditionally harvested between November and February, and the villagers use a woven bamboo tool for collecting the mandarins, allowing them to gently pick the fruit without any damage.
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.