Kishu Mandarins
Kishu mandarins are one of our favorite mandarins to grow. They’re super sweet, seedless and taste like candy.
What are Kishu Mandarins?
These orange jewels you see in the photo above are kishu mandarins. David Karp calls them the mighty mandarin “the most delicious of mandarins”. They’re small, seedless, easy to peel and sweet. We call them citrus candy and you can’t just eat one. Because they’re so addicting, delicious and often hard to find, we decided to grow a tree a few years back. Since we’re a little nutty and crazy in the citrus growing realm, we decided to grow a second tree last year because we love kishu mandarins to no end.
Now, you see how beautiful they are this time of year? They’re exploding on the trees and so full of super sweet fruit, we’re dizzy with excitement.
Kishu Citrus Candy!
But then one afternoon we found this…… a thief, clenching a precious kishu. Upon first sight, the little bugger was perched on the wall next to the kishu tree, in the process of peeling its stolen goods. As we neared with pups in tow, the kishu snatcher raced to a nearby tree, safely out of reach. Normally it would have chirped back at us, however obviously its mouth was too full.
To our shock, these garden thieves were feasting on our kishu mandarins and leaving the peels scattered all across the garden. So rude! Ok, so we’re totally cool with sharing with these critters, but to think that they loved the kishu mandarins as much as we do was a shock. So now what do we do? We start eating the kishu’s as quick as possible and leave the lemons for the squirrels. pttthbt!!!
And in the photo below, you see all this ripe fruit? They’re our super juicy fremont tangerines. The squirrels also seem to enjoy sneaking a few off the tree. So what do we do? Start picking and sharing them before these little beasts get to them!
A gardeners dilemma never ends.
Happy Weekend to you all.
hugs and love,
diane and todd……. and the squirrel *thief*
And here are our exploding Fremont tangerines. The squirrels better stay away!
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Aw, I would love to have a beautiful mandarin tree in my backyard. I’m sure they taste delicious… when the squirrels don’t get to them, that is.
I think we’ve eaten 100 kishu’s this week alone. My son says they’re “the best orange ever”!
I have never tasted Kishu’s but have heard about them for a few years. I ordered my first box to be delivered in a couple weeks… Can’t wait to taste them!
I think the kishu are the same as are Meyer lemons – the Rolls Royces of their class. Enjoy!
JUST SO BEAUTIFUL…and the little bugger is adorable! We have an exploding bush full of sour tangerines that are as pretty but far too sour! Yours look delicious!
Cute as they are, the numerous squirrels here in Seal Beach are quite pesky. Your post makes me grateful that our neighbors feed them pecan nuts (which they annoyingly bury all over our garden) because that is what probably keeps them out of our fruit and veggie produce!
just beautiful and they look so delicious!
the squirels just love our fig tree and the grapes. its a battle between the birds, squirels and us, usually we’re a close third and oh yes the dogs love the figs also, we can’t win. with all this rain the citrus should be very happy. stay dry.
I am aching to get some citrus growing! Is the kishu in a pot? Can’t tell. I know you keep quite a few of your fruit trees in pots. A total inspiration for this here aspiring albeit black thumb gardener. My fig tree (ha! invasive in California!) is still alive, so I feel like I’m *ready* to take the citrus plunge. Thanks for the inspiration, even if it is with thieves.
These look absolutely amazing. I love citrus so much in the winter. With the flu that’s going around, the more vitamin C the better I suppose!
Squirrels (and birds) ate all my persimmons this year. ALL of them. I feel your frustration. I’m surprised at how much citrus you have. It’s been such a cold winter we hardly got any Meyer Lemons and our neighbor’s orange trees don’t have as much this year either.
Can you please let us know where we can buy kishu mandarin trees to grow? Thanks so much.
The best is to ask at your local nurseries. Many times a good nursery can special order something if they don’t have it in stock. Here in SoCal we’ve seen quite a few who carry it regularly now. Online, many gardening forums talk highly about Four Winds Growers, and they do carry the kishus.
Gorgeous photos! I am totally jealous of the citrus grove, it has been 0 degrees here and snowing. Cute “thief”.
Can I come citrus picking :)?
Two things – that is the most beautiful fruit tree I have ever seen, and look at the nails/claws on that squirrel! Beautiful photos.
Animals seem to be able to source the most delicious stuff! Rabbits used to eat my dad’s raspberries which were in season for like 2 days where I grew up. He used to get so mad! Your citrus trees are gorgeous!
And I saw your Pumpkin Creme Brulee on the HuffPo GF feature next to some cookies of mine. I am still craving pumpkin & molasses event though I should move on to citrus these days!
That picture of the squirrel made me laugh outloud!!!! On one hand, indignant for you…on the other, laughing.
My grandparents had this in their backyard…i used to camp out under the tree & eat them until i was sick. it was awesome.
I think i’m going to start referring to your backyard as “the orchard” or “the grove”. 🙂