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03-04-2003, 12:08 AM

(Glenn Letsch) writes:
We live in Walnut Creek California
We planted an (Dwarf?) orange tree several years ago.
It is bearing an immense amount of fruit
but the oranges are VERY VERY sour, even if you leave them on the tree
til they are deep orange. It doens't matter how long they stay on the
tree
They are not edible.

Is there anything we can do to make them edible?
Even for next season?

Is it the tree that is dwarf, or the fruit? There are some varieties
of orange that are very bitter, they are suitable only for making
marmalade--and they make superb marmalade. Seville I think is one.

Your use of the word "immense" suggests that you might have a cumquot
not an orange. Cumquots are like small oranges or mandarins, are very
sour despite their deep orange colour, are typically borne in immense
numnbers on small trees, and can be made into the most delicious
marmalade that you could ever taste.

I have heard it's possible to sweeten fruit from a very sour lemon
by watering some copper sulfate solution around the dripline of the
tree, so you could try this sparingly to see whether it has a
similar effect on citrus in general. It would effect the next crop,
I presume. But I think the best advice is to find a few marmalade
recipes and start cooking. You might be able carve out a name for
yourself in homemade marmalades!
--
John Savage, Sydney (newsgroup email invalid; keep replies in newsgroup)