Love citrus? Can't grow it because of your climate? Here ya go. We have been growing these in our yard for years. They are wonderful in cocktails and drinks and make a delicious marmalade. The taste is a bit of a cross between lemon and orange to me. I started mine from seed and had fruit in 3 years in my zone 7B. I also love the winter interest of this plant as well as the thorns detouring pest from the plant and near-by plants. I know this is strange, but the thorns make a great natural tooth pick and gets rid of bad breathe.

Please check my wants to trade.

IDENTIFICATION: Poncirus trifoliata: Tree to 20 feet, leaves alternate, compound, three leaflets, 1 to 2 inches long, may be finely wavy toothed, thickened, petiole winged, shiny dark green, flowers white, cup-shaped, fragrant. Vicious thorns, small fruit. Self-fertile, propagate by planting fresh seeds from ripe fruit. If you are going to store the seeds keep them cool (35-40F for at least 30 days) then warm for 24 hours in warm water. Chilled seeds germinates in two weeks if kept around 70-80F, a month at 60-70F. Poncirus is a monotypic genus with the only member the trifoliata.

TIME OF YEAR: Flowers in early spring, fruit in late fall.

ENVIRONMENT: Not too picky about soil but does not like line-heavy soil, prefers full sun but can tolerate some shade. Likes moist soil but will not tolerated being water logged.

METHOD OF PREPARATION: Fruit as marmalade, dried as seasoning, juice diluted for a drink.

Use 30 to 50 fruit depending upon their size. Wash well. Cut each one equatorially and twist the halves apart. Squeeze the pulp, seed and what juice there is into a bowl. Remove the seeds. This is helped by adding a little water. You can slice the peelings or leave them whole.

Add the peelings to a jar holding 2.5 cups of water and 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Pour off about 2 cups of the water. Add the juice and pulp and simmer for 10 more minutes. Meanwhile put enough jars (lids and screw-caps) for eight cups of marmalade into a big pot of water and bring them to a boil. Continue to let them boil very gently until the marmalade is ready to can.

Measure 4 cups of sugar then take 1/4 cup of that sugar and mix it with one package of pectin in a small bowl. In the large bowl add enough water to the juice/pulp mixture to bring the volume to 5.5 cups and put it in a gallon pot for cooking. Add the sugar/pectin mixture from the small bowl and a 1/2 tablespoon of oil. Bring a full boil stirring constantly as it heats. Then add the rest of the sugar and heat this till it again reaches a full boil. Boil for one more minute only. Turn off the heat and quickly put the marmalade into the sterile jars. Fill each jar to within 1/4 inch of the top, wipe off any marmalade that touches the rim. Set the lid, tighten, then do the next jar. Sealed jars should keep for months.

If you want to reduce the bitterness of the peelings first you can parboil them in as many changes of water as you like until the water is not bitter or of a bitterness of your liking. Cooking will leave a resin on your utensils. Alcohol will remove it quickly.