555 is chockablock with citrus trees. There is a yuzu in the front garden, a kumquat over by the hatake, and our Kobayashi mikan. We added a lemon and a lime to the mix this year.
And there are four mystery citrus. Probably some kind of natsumikan, a sour orange that ripens in early summer but I hadn’t tried any of them and I wanted to understand for myself. Maybe we have a second Kobayashi mikan…
So I made a map, then went outside and picked one fruit from each mystery tree. I labelled them with a Sharpie as I went along because they look so similar. I also picked a Kobayashi mikan (K), because they are nearly ripe and I wanted to compare.
First I measured and weighed each one, examined its leaves, and the texture and color of the skin. Then I cut them open to see what was inside.
K) Kobayashi mikan is a hybrid between natsumikan and a regular sweet orange mikan. It is mildly sweet, with a moderate number of seeds. We usually eat them like grapefruit. They are in season from mid January to March. This fruit from at the top of the tree seems ready; monkeys are stealing them now. [277 g / 85 mm]
1) is an ama-natsu according to Mrs. Kawasaki. The texture of the flesh is a bit like grapefruit and it has a lot of seeds. Ama-natsu’s the sweetest variety in the sour family of natsumikan. But this one was the sourest of the group I tested. That may be this particular fruit, or the fact that it won’t be ripe for another four months. Or it could characterise the whole tree. Last year, I did not harvest from this tree. [278 g / 85 mm]
2) is the tree we can see from the bath and our bed. Last year it only produced two fruits; this year it has many more. You’ll observe the flesh color is a bit redder than #1 and its texture is less grainy. The seeds are an oval shape and the skin is evenly grainy. It’s overall shape is like the natsumikan. It is not sweet, but it’s not sour, either. I will give it some more time to ripen and then we will eat these. They will be good in salad. [244 g / 80 mm]
3) is the tree next to the barn. The fruits fall with loud thumps on the tin roof. It is awkwardly planted on the slope and has grown very tall with no low branches. It’s going to be challenging to harvest. Like 1, this fruit was sour and with a grainy flesh. Not ripe yet, so I will check it again in a few months. [256 g / 83 mm]
4) is located at the bottom of the garden and we can see it from the dining room. Mrs. Kawasaki says it’s not very good, but I found the flavour was nice and the peel very fragrant. The fruit was visibly larger than the others and it had more seeds than any of the others. It’s another that needs more time to ripen, but I will check it periodically along with the others. [345 g / 95 mm]
Beyond the borders of our property there are many more citrus trees – hidden away in groves of bamboo along the sides of abandoned rice paddies. They are neglected but some still bear fruit. Maybe next year, I’ll go demystify those.
