Calamansi

Description

Calamansi (calamondin, Philippine lime or golden lime) is a small, round citrus of the Philippines and Southeast Asia, central to Filipino cooking. The fruit is tiny - about the size of a walnut - with thin skin that turns from green to deep orange as it ripens, and juicy orange flesh with a sour-sweet, orange-lime flavour: used green as a lime substitute in cooking, marinades, and drinks, and eaten whole with the skin on when fully orange-ripe. Trees are small, bushy, and precocious, flowering and fruiting almost continuously in warm climates, so in New Zealand fruit is picked over a long season rather than in one window. In NZ it is a collectors' and enthusiasts' tree for the warmest frost-free pockets or for containers, needing full sun, free drainage, regular citrus feeding, and frost protection. Fragrant blossom and bright fruit make it ornamental as well as useful. Fruit does not store long - use fresh or juice and freeze.