13 Citrus Fruits You Might Not Have Heard Of

Why not keep the spookiness of Halloween with you all year long? With the piercing of its vivid orange rind, the blood orange reveals a succulent, deep red flesh. Despite its scary-sounding name, the chemical that gives this fruit its crimson hue and sanguine name, anthocyanin, isn't some sort of poison. In fact, this chemical is responsible for the hefty levels of antioxidants in the orange (via NPR). The brighter the colors of the fruit, the more antioxidants it contains: The insides of blood oranges can range from a deep salmon to an eye-popping magenta.

In the United States, sweet and tart moro blood oranges appear on store shelves most frequently. This variety features almost maroon-colored flesh — a visually appealing addition to any meal. On the continent, Europeans love tarocco blood oranges. These are sweeter than their more tart American cousins with a flatter colored peel and a more muted inner flesh. You might also get your hands on an appropriately named sanguinello blood orange, which houses a pinker flesh and motley yellow-red rind. However you exsanguinate it ... er, juice it, this citrus will undoubtedly delight your guests when you use it in an incredible sweet or savory blood orange recipe.

Don't wait for the citrus harvest to come to you: grow your own fruit year-round with the calamondin. Called the "apartment orange tree," this evergreen citrus will happily thrive in a heated home, bringing the sunshine indoors (via Nature and Garden). But if it's sweet citrus you're after, look elsewhere. Calamondins are notoriously acidic. Still, if you're a sucker for a sour punch, you can sink your teeth into the small orange fruits — rind and all.

For most people, however, the calamondin is purely an ornamental citrus plant. Keep yours alive year after year by planting it in a pot with holes in the bottom to prevent root rot. Fill the bottom of the pot with rocks, gravel, or clay pebbles that ensure proper drainage, then cover the rocks with a mix of soil. Calamondins thrive when given fertilizer specific to citrus trees as it encourages more fruit growth and supports luscious green leaves.

A calamondin tree doesn't do well in harsh sunlight, so place it somewhere in your home with decent light but no direct exposure during peak hours. Your tree will happily live indoors with you during its fruit-bearing season — just be sure to keep it away from radiators and other heat sources. When the weather permits, move your potted calamondin outdoors to give it some fresh air and indirect light.

One of the original citrus fruits, the citron is the predecessor of the Buddha's hand (via Smithsonian Magazine). Like the Buddha's hand, the oversized lumpy, bumpy look of the citron betrays its pleasant and powerful fragrance. The beta-ionone in these fruits give them an additional and unexpected scent in citrus: violet (via UC Riverside). The citron is mostly rind, with only a small portion of the substantially sized fruit dedicated to the inner flesh, making it ideal for candying, marmalade, and sauces. But unlike the Buddha's hand, citrons are bitter, sour fruits, and you'll have a hard time finding them in grocery stores (via BBC).

In Calabria, Italy, however, these fruits are cultural touchstones. You can find citron-flavored ice creams, oils, cocktails, and even perfumes. Citrons also play a historical role in the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. The plant arrived in Italy not long after the Jewish migration there around 2,000 years ago, and for nearly a century the citron was the only citrus variety in Europe. Today, Jewish people from around the globe travel to Calabria in the summer to pick the fruit as part of their lulav, where they gather four plants together and use them to bless small, temporary huts constructed for the fall holiday. Even three months after being harvested, the citron's incomparable aroma still holds strong

Think of the kumquat as a tiny, inverse orange. These olive-shaped citrus fruits have a soft outer skin that is far sweeter than their sour, pulpy centers (via EatDelights). For this reason, the kumquat, like the calamondin, can be eaten rind and all. An evergreen citrus, whose name in Cantonese means "golden fruit," the kumquat originated in Eastern Asia about 1,000 years ago, then made its way to Europe in the 1800s where the fruit thrived in the balmy climes of the Mediterranean (via MyParea). On the Greek island of Corfu, kumquats soon became an agricultural gold mine, and before long the Greeks had turned it into a liqueur that resembles a less sugary, less alcoholic Cointreau or triple sec.

You can snack on this sweet and tart treat raw, turn it into marmalade, add it to a pea shoots and radish salad, or even transform it into spicy kumquat salsa to accompany tilapia. And Brussels sprouts go from bland to bling when you combine them with medjool dates and sliced kumquats. However you eat it, you'll be transported to another land with the perfect citrus blend of sour and sweet.

Forget your run-of-the-mill small mandarin oranges with wimpy, thin skin. Instead, sink your teeth into sumo citrus – enormous satsuma-orange-mandarin hybrids known for their bumpy rinds and iconic top knots. With easy-to-peel, thick rinds, these super-sweet oranges make the perfect no-mess snack fruit.

Sumo citrus fruits are now grown in California's San Joaquin Valley, but this special, seedless variety originated in the 1970s in Japan where a single grower toiled for over a decade to produce these luscious yet delicate fruits. Along every step of the growing process, sumo citrus farmers treat these giant golden orbs like true treasures, hand-picking the fruit into small baskets instead of large bins, and even floating them into the assembly line where each crate is packed by hand.

To grow sumo citrus, farmers are trialing regenerative farming practices that help keep carbon in the soil of the orchards instead of in the atmosphere, along with investing in solar power. If water conservation is your concern, sumo citrus has that handled, too. Using drip irrigation and rainwater capture, both the citrus groves and the surrounding environment can thrive. Tasty and a sustainable food, sumo citrus just might become your favorite new orange.

Deceptively named, the ugli fruit is beloved for its citrusy sweet taste and easy-to-peel rind. As a large hybrid of a mandarin orange and a grapefruit, the ugli fruit is actually a type of tangelo. But with its thick, greenish-yellow, rough, and slightly wrinkled skin, no one is likely to mistake this variety for a honeybell orange. Ugli fruits are teardrop shaped, owing to the top knot they share with other mandarin hybrids. Sometimes called uniq fruits, these perfectly nice-looking citrus come from Jamaica. The name, however, is derived from a particular brand, UGLI, whose designation became so popular that the variety itself became known as ugli, according to Healthline.

You can feast on ugli fruit like other easily peelable citrus varieties or — given its considerable size — slice it in half and eat its yellow-to-orange pulpy flesh like you would a grapefruit. This citrus cooks well in savory dishes using parsley, mint, and cilantro, and it shines on its own. Pop it in the oven on broil, and you'll caramelize the surface, sweetening up the flesh and bringing out the ugli fruit's orange, pineapple, and grapefruit flavors (via Specialty Produce). Ugli fruits can be stored in the fridge for up to two weeks, or leave them on the counter. You'll have around five days to enjoy whatever culinary delight you create.

Although the yuzu has a flavor that resembles grapefruit, you won't be snacking on this citrus. A fragrant, tart Japanese fruit, yuzu is most often used in Asian cuisine as a juice or a zest (via EatingWell). Yellow on the outside and the inside with large seeds, yuzu is best known for its sharp citrus flavor. Some varieties, like the Japanese yuko, are sweet, but the taste people around the world have come to love in ponzu sauce, drinks, desserts, teas, and special yuzu vinegar is more sour (via byFood). The sharp, pungent oil embedded in its rind even appears in perfumes. 

Let the aroma of yuzu comfort you in cold weather: The Japanese float whole fruits in bathwater to ring in the winter solstice. You can also warm up with a shot of yuzu liqueur, which features notes of lemon and mandarin. This spirit is relatively new to Americans, but its popularity is fast growing. Give it a whirl in a Lucky Roots cocktail or a Kasai Sour. Cheers. Or should we say, kanpai!