GHOLSTON MANDARIN - Tasting a Citrus Variety with only around 10 trees in existence

[@WeirdExplorer]

Lots of citrus fruit coming up in the next few months. So I have to know, what's your favorite citrus?

[@RideBound]

Kumquats! That tart inner fruit with the contrasting sweet pith is hard to beat!

[@Calmaressurgebat]

the tangerines in my front yard are fire but overall I love Kumquats the most. My grandparents used to have a tree and mine is growing now.

[@niemczy]

Have to say its a mandarin thats been ripping in my car for a few weeks

[@keanongardening4906]

Shiranui!

[@jasonsutor6788]

Willow leaf mandarin

[@censusgary]

I corresponded with Don Gholston of the CRFG from about 1996 until his death in 1998. He was, quite literally, a gentleman and a scholar. We never met in person, but my online conversations with him were extremely informative and thought-provoking. It was quite a shock when he passed away. As I understood it, he died rather suddenly after a day of working in his garden. Don would be delighted that, after all these years, we are appreciating a tropical fruit variety named in his honor. It is exactly the kind of immortality that befits him.

[@WeirdExplorer]

So nice to hear this, thanks Gary

[@MossTunic]

this is incredible, thank you for sharing. :^) very sweet, its also interesting to know the fond history behind this fruit.

[@Randy_McShandy]

You ever tried apples? I keep seeing them in the store so they gotta be pretty good.

[@Eblis840]

Check out those bananas every one's been talking about.

[@D_R757]

Apples worst fruit

[@Denissheferf]

everyone knows about apples so

[@matthewwilliams1212]

You'll never be the same after you try one.

[@XanderPerezayylmao]

@@Denissheferf ? what’s that

[@NickCombs]

What an honor! Thanks for being our fruit ambassador

[@Ardnut77]

I have to give you a big THANK YOU. My picky 5 year old LOVES you. She thinks you are the coolest dude on KZbin. Because of you she has been trying all sorts of new fruit and calls herself a Brave Food Explorer. She says “I wanna be just like fruit dude (her nickname for you)”. Keep putting out awesome content and we would love it if you made weird fruit explorer T-shirt for kids. P.s she has tried Rambutans, Longans, carambola, and sapote so far. 😄

[@WeirdExplorer]

That is Brave indeed! So glad to hear she's being adventurous with food. :) I discontinued youth shirts, but do have a couple left (small only) in the clearance section here: weirdexplorer.com/shop/durian-anatomy-childrens-shirt

[@Mubariz]

Awesome

[@Aethelos]

Talk about a great role model!

[@jamesharrison2763]

She has good taste in KZbinrs! She sounds damn clever for a five year old to man. Keep up the good work!!

[@JohnBainbridge0]

Things I've learned from this channel: 1) There's a whole damn lot of fruit out there! 2) Citrus likes to get it on with anything citrus. Citrus likes citrus more than people like citrus, is what I'm saying. 3) Peppers are hot for peppers, as above.

[@WeirdExplorer]

truth

[@sdfkjgh]

@John Bainbridge: So, what I hear you saying is: don't give either citrus or peppers cloning machines, because the clonefucking orgy would be way too intense and expansive. Gotcha.

[@ericlivingston8027]

In theory any plant that crosses with another plant can produce something new. Most people just stick with the names varieties though because they know the named varieties are good. Sometimes you get a crazy good cross that people won't ever be able to try though which is a shame. I heard someone claim they had a mulberry that tasted similar to bananas on youtube one time for example.

[@dankline9162]

@@ericlivingston8027 I find hybrids very interesting. They can happen naturally, if conditions are right, but people can make them happen easily enough. Some species are only separated by geography, others by the times they normally flower, etc. Humans can change this to form a hybrid. Some species cannot form a viable hybrid offspring bc of genetic incompatibilities, but even here, there is some gray area. You may only be able to get a hybrid which is sterile, but if it's good enough, that doesn't matter, even desirable, for getting interesting new fruit.

[@pemulis123]

Regarding (2), whatever you do, don't go into citrus taxonomy. It is a rabbit hole that leaves you with with way more questions than answers.

[@carlospiedra308]

That sounds like a really good mandarin

[@a29978]

Theres been multiple times you've brought me to tears by doing things like thanking the dead, even though they can't hear you. Thank you for being so respectful!

[@cyruskhalvati]

From random guy with like 100 subs posting videos of his fruit ventures during work trips to being recognized by international organizations geez i bet you were so ecstatic to receive this lol.

[@qwertydoddles2222]

U forgot the k in that 100

[@cyruskhalvati]

@@qwertydoddles2222 thats what he has now. Hes been doing this for years. There was a time where he would get like 20 views a vid tops, but its always been the same interesting stuff.

[@MajesticSkywhale]

destin from SmarterEveryDay has apparently been a large-portion sponsor of his for years too because I've seen the name listed on his videos since forever

[@Daniel44125]

I had a lime in Ecuador last month in the mountains that was green on the outside and orange on the inside. The taste was amazing. No idea what it was because the locals just call it a lemon. I hope you have one in your reviews.

[@Erewhon2024]

Might be a Rangpur lime (which is a sour mandarin). Green skin isn't that unusual for citrus grown in the tropics, because cool weather is needed (for oranges at least) to get the rinds to color up.

[@alexdrew5293]

It was probably a normal ripe orange because close to the equator where temperatures are consistently high the green chlorophyll in the skin remains for much longer. If they are exposed to colder weather the chlorophyll will fade exposing the orange pigment.

[@TR.Pixels]

Could of even been a Kumquat or hybrid like Calamansi, I grow Calamansi and when you peel green ones they are orange inside.

[@felipeguimaraes2398]

Its Called pink lemon ou horse lemon

[@viotato5937]

@@TR.Pixels but calamansi is very sour even when ripe

[@cristiaolson7327]

Glad to see the CFRG being mentioned in so many videos. Their online information on cultivating rare fruits has been a fabulous resource for people like me who want weird backyard orchards (like growing sapote, cherimoya, mangos and jackfruit in central California), and need to know how to protect their trees in non-native climates.

[@alexkelley3308]

I'm a part of the Texas RFG group and personally have 19 varieties of citrus growing right now. So excited to see all these fruits taste tested!! Citrus fruits remind me of dogs in how many incredibly different size and types there can be and the hybrids from those oddball combos. My list: Golden Grapefruit Page Mandarin Shiranui Mandarin Nippon Orangequat Thomasville Citrangequat Indio Mandarinquat Nagami Kumquat Changshou Kumquat Meiwa Kumquat Marumi Kumquat Key Lime Giant Key Lime New Zealand Lemonade Australian Finger Lime Yuzu Seville Orange Carizzo Citrange Trifoliate Orange Rangupur Lime Love your Channel!

[@ambulocetusnatans]

Wow, that's awesome. I'll bet you never imagined where this channel would take you.

[@WeirdExplorer]

It really has been an incredible journey!

[@alexanderthegreatjustalex]

Very nice gesture. Thank you, California rare fruit growers!

[@shadytreez]

Love the group. Filled with great people! During a tasting we fell in love with the vanilla blood orange.

[@vixxxxx4502]

Thank you!!CRFG!!!

[@floppydysk]

Thanks to the CRFG for sponsoring this part of the series! Citrus is such a fascinating fruit to learn about :)

[@cyruskhalvati]

I love mandarin and tangerines and ngl i started feeling real hungry looking at that wedge.

[@shoutenry]

Thanks Monterey Bay! A Gholston! What a find!

[@diannaodman2847]

been eating fruit from my mandarinquats so sweet and tangy. enjoy your channel

[@WeirdExplorer]

I've got three varieties of those coming up in a video next week. Quite a bit of variation between them but all of them super tasty :) Its really a winning combo

[@scottnieradka6836]

Wow, this is exciting, I love weird citrus. Can you talk about the aroma of the peel in the citrus videos if its not too much. Its nice to imagine how they would be in a cocktail or using the zest as a spice. In citrus season, going into the grocery stores with all the different citrus varieties, I miss the smells of citrus, you cant smell much behind a mask, or fondle the fruit, it takes that joy away.

[@lindaway5889]

My favorite citrus fruits are mandarin oranges, tangerines, limes, and pink grapefruit. I live in a nursing home now, but for many years, I loved cooking. I also liked to create recipes that were all my own. I enjoyed making marmalade. One day the wheels were really turning as I was thinking about making my marmalade for Christmas. I decided to experiment and came up with a tangerine - lime concoction. It was to die for! Everyone I gave some to loved it! The best part was being able to tell them it was a recipe that I created.

[@oftin_wong]

Yes tangerine works very well in a lime marmalade ..

[@AllOutPsycho]

Bro congrats, its awesome to see you getting to have such a unique experience

[@LadyAster]

An epic bounty! Great episode, and excellent citrus!

[@xjAlbert]

Very interesting to find your citrus series; wonderful that growers are keeping these varieties alive. I bought some MANDARINQUATS in New York City's Essex Market today, priced at $13.99/pound; they were grown in California.

[@richardportman8912]

What an honor! Welcome citrus club. This is cool .

[@tristanniemier3809]

Save those seeds!!

[@Mr_Stanley888]

The seeds won't produce the same fruit.

[@ericlivingston8027]

Oranges and other trees/named shrub varieties are clones of a named variety. They will not produce true. Even if they did produce it would be years until they produce. Mandarins are known for taking 5 years from a cutting to produce.

[@oftin_wong]

There are some ancestral citrus plants that grow true to type from seed Kumquat: ngami only not a variety Mandarin: the original ancestral mandarin not a variety Kaffir lime: Citron: Pomelo: Everything else is produced over time from crossing these above mentioned plants

[@rzrx1337]

Another great review, thanks Bob.

[@abz817]

Was watching your old citrus videos earlier now this thanks

[@patatlantian4614]

Love this channel man. I just started growing cold hardy citrus last year in SC. So far i got a yuzu,10 degree tangerine,miho satsuma,browns select satsuma,2 meyer lemons, limequat and a suger belle. I am always looking for your channel when i get a new plant to see how you react to it and the many things you can use them for. You go into the history as well which i really appreciate. I hope you can have some of these plants and grow them where you are. Thank you for making these vids i watch them all the time.

[@gearsmoke]

I bet some folks would like the seeds - even if they're not fertilized true, it would be interesting to see what they produce.

[@censusgary]

Citrus seeds generally don’t “come true”- you can even, say, plant a seed from an orange and get a lime tree- but I agree that it would be interesting to know what grows from the seeds of the Gholston Mandarin.

[@Gleowyn]

@@censusgary what. Really? Damn drama fruits

[@Ami-ut2us]

@@censusgary I wouldn't say generally, it really depends. Many oranges & mandarins do come true - they have polyembronic seeds where one is a clone. Lemons, kumquats & pommelos often dont. I think if the seed is fat it will probably have two babies in there - one if which is a clone and the other zygotic

[@bobbm1]

I love your videos. I don’t get many chances to try exotic fruits, but your videos inspire me to one day explore interesting places and eat interesting fruits just like you.

[@henryforsman9483]

Hell yeah man! Banger after banger! Keep it up!

[@WeirdExplorer]

Appreciate it!!

[@ScoriacTears]

Nice one Jared thanks, you deserve some recognition for raising awareness of rare fruit in peril, and for sharing your exploration of the worlds weird produce.

[@carlosdwayne-kw8nv]

They have a ton gholston mandarins in Clermont

[@jeffrasmussen1478]

I meet Gene some time ago and this broke me. He was just so great

[@mirandamom1346]

Wow. You’ve become an Eminent Figure. 🙌🏻

[@richardportman8912]

He is definitely the best of all fruit explorers, and a friend to all.

[@Sailorsecretindistress]

One of my neighbor has a rare Limonia Osbeck! It's an orange color citrus that had a nipple bell. It tastes very sour. It's actually a lemon

[@birb180]

This is awesome!

[@jubby8107]

These Gholston mandarins look very similar to the mandarins that my grandparents grow in my backyard, but without the seeds and the sweetness to tartness ratio is around the same ballpark if not a tiny bit less tart! Don't really know the exact details/background of the ones we grow though, i live in Australia

[@Harveywhite209]

The seeds in mandarins are often just a consequence of being grown near a pollinator. The store-bought fruit would be grown in clonal orchards with no chance of cross pollination, but the other fruit was from a mixed orchard with many opportunities for effective pollination

[@u5amaa]

aww yiss it's citrus time

[@twahiralam]

Wow such a great find.

[@guillermoelprimero9900]

@Weird Explorer, hello from Mexico, i love your videos and you channel, i would love to try rare fruit like you, do you know if miamifruit.org sends fruit over here? I checked their website but i couldn’t find anything, greetings

[@CiroqLee]

I’m so glad to see your channel growing!!! Keep it up my dude, much love

[@everetteberhardt5629]

As always, love the “ facts and figures “ lol 😂 keep it up my man we love the fruit and you too

[@WeirdExplorer]

Thank you! Will do!

[@Northerntide19]

There was a fruit in Grenada (caribbean) known locally as a "kingfruit". These could be huge, some as big as a bowling ball. Tasted like a mellow/sweeter grapefruit without that grapefruit bitterness. Not sure if youve tried them, but worth adding to your to taste list.

[@sdfkjgh]

0:16 Orangequat in the center-right!

[@MyLifestyle-r5s]

Good sharing 👍

[@sourav325]

These GHOLSTON MANDARIN look pretty similar to Darjeeling Oranges in India..... Whenever I visit there I buy few kilos ... too sweet ..love those

[@benjaminbroudy2982]

I THINK I see an oro blanco in there (or something that looks very similar)

[@WeirdExplorer]

Not this time around. I think that is the melogold grapefruit :)

[@benjaminbroudy2982]

@@WeirdExplorer ok so so so close they came out of the exact same breeding program. I have to say to myself though: good eye. I would say most 14 year olds can't do THAT. I call that a win for me.

[@eduardochavacano]

Man, i love these videos... i love fruits too. i really love rare fruits.

[@nosaltiesandrooshere7488]

👍 Thanks for uploading! 👍 Very good and beautiful, thank you!

[@Vi-zf5zq]

Very interesting video as always!! Thanks!

[@ariezweatherford6861]

Have you tried the lumpy lemon used to make limoncello?

[@justinwilliams7324]

It's adorable.

[@TheCat4791]

Aww I would love to taste that little mandarine.

[@StuffandThings_]

There are so, so, so many cultivars on the verge of extinction. Modern agriculture has really done a number on all these niche varieties. Not to mention all the diseases we spread around to plants that make the current pandemic sound wimpy. I'm growing a few uncommon plant varieties, and it definitely feels special to be in possession of something rare and unique.

[@korpse6rinder]

Give those a daluted vinegar dip so they don't mold as fast. You should dry all the different rinds to make an every citrus spice or candy them.

[@hoviksmail]

I'm currently growing a Blue Banana strain that's supposed to have a similar taste to vanilla ice cream.

[@penonton4260]

belimbing wuluh termasok citrus gak ya ? super asem itu.

[@bloodytomatoes9837]

Try pink pearl apples you will love them

[@willywonka3050]

I was wondering if you've ever tried a lemonadeberry (Rhus integrifolia)? It's native to Southern California, and there's lots of shrubs with these berries in the Malibu hills. I ate them raw on a hiking trip, but they're usually brewed into a sour tea.

[@PeppersnGlowworms]

"Monterey Bay chapter of the CRFG" sounds like a biker gang... but is actually way cooler imho...

[@WeirdExplorer]

That explains why some of the citrus had tattoos...

[@gregl5649]

Not sure if you get them in your part of the world but ugli fruit is awesome, like a giant super sweet mandarin

[@WeirdExplorer]

They used to show up at markets all the time, but I think they've lost popularity. I rarely see them anymore

[@FoodToursPty]

Very interesting. I'm pretty sure we have one (or a very similar one) in our country house in Panama. Keep it up!

[@Shaden0040]

my favorite citrus are limes, and blood oranges. I wonder if they canbe crossed?

[@WeirdExplorer]

They should be!

[@tammymccaslin4787]

I would try one!

[@haziqq]

I don't know why I love this channel. I don't even like fruit. 😂

[@Shane_O.5158]

lets hope they become available to grow.

[@JTMusicbox]

Awesome! Only ten trees? That’s crazy! If you plant the seeds in a pot and keep it safe from your cat that will increase them by 10%

[@siggyincr7447]

Sadly it doesn't work that way. Citrus varieties don't grow true from seed in general. You need to graft a rootstock with a piece of one of these trees to get another tree that produces this same fruit.

[@JTMusicbox]

That’s probably true Siggy. I find citrus fruits fascinating, but I’m certainly no expert. I had heard many varieties will not grow from a seed and that there’re believed to be three main naturally occurring citrus and all others are bred by people. I’d also heard that most but not all plant hybrids are sterile so I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s impossible but i was largely commenting for fun and to feed the algorithm for this channel.

[@ScoriacTears]

@@JTMusicbox Kudos.

[@NotSoCrazyNinja]

Back in the 1990s when I was a kid, there was some kind of tangerine in supermarkets in my area that I fell in love with, but at some point they vanished and were replaced with a variety of tangerine that sucks in my opinion. I have always wished I could figure out what that variety was and how to get more of them.

[@Edna2u]

Any tips for ripening the bananas from Miami fruit? I have had the bix in a warm place for a week now with no joy

[@WeirdExplorer]

hm.. well if you put bananas in a dry place place where the ethylene gas can intermingle that definitely helps. If its still taking a long while, you can throw in a very ripe banana from the supermarket.

[@Erewhon2024]

Store them in paper bags so the ethene (=ethylene, but the IUPAC "proper" name for the chemical) gas can concentrate a bit. Ethene is the ripening/aging hormone. Bananas, apples, and tomatoes exhale a significant amount of it.

[@Edna2u]

@@WeirdExplorer Im at the ripe banana stage...... I must be patient

[@Edna2u]

@@WeirdExplorer I finally have a handful of ripe bananas. Apparently my kitchen is not warm enough. When i moved them upstairs to my room they started to ripen better

[@leatherDarkhorse]

This is my fav mandrin

[@slewone4905]

The seeds might be reduced by preventing it to be pollinated. There is a fight with Citrus growers and beekeepers, because some do not want theirs to be pollinated because it makes it seedier. Clementines are one of the citrus that is fighting the beekeepers on that. YOu might want to eat the Gholston Rind. The thin rind makes me think it can be treated like other small citrus like Kumkuat. I can see a big market for it being dried and other uses in asia.

[@ericlivingston8027]

I thought of this too. Even seedless varieties can have seeds. I bought seedless mandarins and Cara Cara oranges from the stores that had seeds. Those are seedless varieties. Even four winds citrus claims Clementines have seeds which means they will have more seeds. As you can see the Clementine he got had no seeds but they do get seeds with pollinators.

[@Gaaraape]

Huh, so how do the flowers produce fruit unless they're pollinated?

[@DeathMetalDerf]

With all of the fruits you've tried over the years, have you noticed that sometimes the smaller ones are the ones with the biggest flavor pop, or is it just my silly human brain noticing "patterns" that don't actually exist in nature? And thank you again for yet another informative and entertaining video!

[@WeirdExplorer]

Not always, but that does happen a lot, especially with more common fruit like berries

[@lordtachanka80]

Congrats on 200k in advance 👏!

[@pbjandahighfive]

Does the CRFG sell/ship any of their member's fruits across the world? I unfortunately live in a very cold climate where many varieties of fruit simply cannot grow, but am always interested in trying them when I am able. Looking at their website doesn't provide any direct information about sales, but I see they held a contest focused on apples in 2019 that looks particularly interesting with some varieties I would absolutely love to try. I am extremely jealous of people who live in tropical climates, not because I actually like the weather, because I don't, I am through and through adapted to the cold, but because of all the delicious fruits they have access to.

[@jinagibson6818]

Looks great 😍

[@hairyballbastic8943]

Have you ever considered drying out the skins of oranges and trying them as well? they don't have that gross pulpy bitter texture when they're dehydrated, I snack on them now and then and they remind me of a fruit leather (but less sugary)

[@WeirdExplorer]

Yeah! I'd like to try that sometime on the channel

[@raheem8086]

You can dry it blend it and make fruit drink lol

[@Andy-ck5iu]

Great review as always. I've noticed this on a number of videos now, please consider getting a sharper knife. The knife you use doesn't slice cleanly, it is so unsharp that it squished the juice out of that mandarin before cutting through.

[@נהוראיסבגי-נ7מ]

first lol, looks like an awesome reviewing video, as always :)

[@arandomperson5185]

Very cool

[@amysnipes4245]

I'm curious- if we know what the hybridization is on this, why can't it be duplicated? Thanks. My favorite citrus is Calamondin!!!

[@jamalsalads]

Hey can you try a Hamlin? I got a orange tree from Lowe’s about 6 months ago and am curious on what they are gonna taste like.

[@tmross4]

Navel oranges are made from splicing an orange onto a lemon stock.

[@censusgary]

It depends on where they’re growing them. The rough lemon is the preferred rootstock for some soils, but where I live, the sour orange is the rootstock of choice.

[@StuffandThings_]

Now I'm curious how small citrus can get (ones that you peel and eat, not like kumquats of course!)

[@Erewhon2024]

Hybrids can sometimes do unexpected things, but does anyone know of a Valencia orange (or maybe Moro blood orange?) X clementine cross? In Florida at least, Hamlin is considered an inferior orange, processed to keep the juice-concentrate factories running when Valencia is not in season (downtime is extremely expensive, which makes me wonder how northern [apple etc] juice factories stay afloat), but always mixed with Valencia concentrate from cold storage, because otherwise the product tastes inferior.

[@censusgary]

Don Gholston must have seen something in the Hamlin that he realized could make a mandarin orange better.

[@avariceseven9443]

I’ve only eaten a few varieties of oranges in my life but from my experience, the most flavorful are those with seeds.

[@chad3883]

I want one

[@casiandsouza7031]

For citrus it is good to know how much pomelo genes it has.

[@chloedamone3014]

how amazing all the wonderful things you've tasted

[@tdgvoihf9767]

Weird explorer have you eat a citrus fruit that is a orange alike and the skin that is edible about the size of a grape

[@FieroFats]

So what is stopping you from growing another tree from the seeds? It seems it would be a worthy endeavor.

[@sophie9419]

I love Christmas oranges, and the one thing I have to say is there is so much variation in them. Some super sweet, some tart, some bland.

[@PowerTom286]

Intreresting, Jared

[@MatthewSherriff85]

Do you plan to plant the seeds?

[@charlienoface600]

Imagine getting this as a gift and just throwing it away.

[@mrminer071166]

7:18 . . . .and now he goes full Har Mahdeem and tastes the skin!

[@kurtrohlfing5850]

Will you give out those seeds to further expand the potential of the trees?

[@Mr_Stanley888]

The seeds won't grow the same fruit.

[@slewone4905]

@@Mr_Stanley888 I think citrus tends to breed true.

[@Ami-ut2us]

@@slewone4905 it depends on the citrus variety but yes citrus can and does often breed true.

[@travisw.5116]

If you had to be named after a variety of fruit to be remembered for all eternity, what fruit would you choose? (I guess you could create your own variety/traits)

[@Raymuk]

A super sweet watermelon