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Re: CHAT: Citrons (was: Danny Wier's PIE (was: Vocab #5))

From:Barry Garcia <barry_garcia@...>
Date:Thursday, May 2, 2002, 22:45
Roger Mills writes:

>I questioned that at first, as I think the related word may mean a >different >fruit in Indonesia.....but my Pilipino dict. gives "kalamunding" as a >syn., >obviously the source of "calamondin". Next time I'm in Fla. I'll have to >try some; they're all over the place, and most people (Anglos at any rate) >just rake them up and throw away.
You should. It's such a shame they aren't being utilized. I havent had the pleasure to taste the juice so i cant say what they taste like (if the sourness has lemon or orange overtones). But Floridians dont know what they're missing out on.
>I think I've even seen them growing in large pots on patios.
Sunset Western Garden book says that these are suitable for growing in pots.
>The dict. gives this, also "dalanghita" the tangerine or mandarin orange. >Supposedly reflecting Span. naranjal and naranjita resp.
Not unusual the diminutive would be used. Spanish usages have crept in at the seams, although after the US took over it probably stopped. I dont think -ita is used for diminutizing much though :).
>Interesting-- sounds a bit like the Florida Key Lime-- yellow skin, flesh >and juice, tangier than the common green (Persian) lime. Difficult to >grow, >however.
A web page i read says that the dayap is the Philippine equivalent to the Key Lime. The Dayap however has deep green skin, but yellow flesh. It also says it's a key ingredient in Leche Flan and Macapuno* because it keeps them from being too sweet. * Macapuno is a variety of coconut seeds (it's not neccesarily a variety of Cocos nucifera) which has soft, jelly like endosperm (whereas a regular coconut has the hard endosperm). It's usually cooked with some sugar and eaten as a dessert. Supposedly an ag research station in the Philippines has bred coconuts that have 80% of their fruits like this.
>I really need to dig out my copy of Heyne, Nuttige Planten van Indonesië-- >contains a wealth of information. Even some amusing anecdotes, like the >Javanese farmer who asked his boss where he could buy "sla" seeds-- he'd >noticed that "sla-olie" was very expensive in the market and thought it >would be a lucrative crop. ("sla-olie" is just "salad oil")
Hee hee. How very interesting!