Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Trifoliate orange

Have you ever seen one?Mom and I spotted a funny little tree with gobs of orange fruit next to an abandoned house a few weeks ago and our curiosity was piqued.

Also known as the Chinese Bitter Orange (Poncirus trifoliata), the fruit smells heavenly. It's a little on the citrusy side, but spicy too. The skin is kind of fuzzy, but not like a peach. The inside is segmented like an orange, but the seeds are more scattered. Taste, oh my word. Stick your finger in your ear and then in your mouth. I'm talking bitter. By the way, I don't recommend the whole finger/ear/mouth thing, but honest to goodness, that's what it tastes like. The juice is sticky like glue. It took 437 Wet Wipes to get the gunk off my fingers and out from under my fingernails.

Supposedly you can make marmalade out of these, but their use as rootstock is more common since they appear to be hardy to zone 5.

Okay, horticultural lesson over.

Nothing much is going on around Aunt Jo's house. I'm studying for a test tomorrow in physics. Fun stuff.

I did a little surfing and decided this is what we're having for dinner. I love sauerkraut. DH will probably turn up his little Irish nose and complain, but der hausfrau says suck it up and give it a try.

In thrifty news, I bought a package of old hankies for $2 at the thrift store. Thrift Shop Romantic hit the mother load of old hankies. Check it out.

Have a great week and I'll be by to see everyone soon.

1 comment:

Annie said...

Mmmm! Ear wax!

I like kraut, but hubby will flee the house when I start waving around cans of kraut. You'd never know he had German in him.