Plated

Pucker Up: Savoring over 200 Types of Citrus at the Lindcove Research & Extension Center

• Season 1 • Episode 2

Share episode

Think about the last time you peeled an orange or a mandarin... or any citrus for the matter. Have you ever considered the journey that takes fresh fruit from the grove to your kitchen table?  In a world where convenience often overshadows tradition, it's remarkable to think about the care and craftsmanship behind every bite.

Just think about it. Those luscious oranges and grapefruits don't just appear,   They start as tiny buds nurtured by farmers and researchers who pour their hearts into the land.

Welcome to Plated, a podcast that explores how food gets on your plate.  I'm your host, Sonia Mehrmand, and together we'll learn more about the agricultural landscape, food producers, restaurants, and eaters that make up Tulare County.

These conversations will highlight the intricate connection between food, culture, land, and community in our region.   As the temperatures begin to drop, I can't help but start dreaming about the citrus season ahead. I've been reflecting on my visit last year to the Lindcove Research Center, which is part of the University of California's Agricultural Research Network.

Lindcove focuses on enhancing citrus cultivation through scientific research and sustainable practices.  Every December, they hold an annual citrus tasting display, where over 200 of the latest varieties are showcased for the community to sample. This event isn't just about tasting. It's a celebration of innovation and research aimed at improving the quality and sustainability of citrus farming.

As we taste our way through unique flavors and discover new varieties, we'll hear from attendees, researchers, and growers about their passion for citrus and the future of this beloved fruit.

You can learn more about Lindcove Research and Extension Center here: https://lrec.ucanr.edu/ 

Think about the last time you peeled an orange   or a mandarin or any citrus for the matter.   Have you ever considered the journey that takes fresh fruit from the grove to your kitchen table?  In a world where convenience often overshadows tradition, it's remarkable to think about the care and craftsmanship behind every bite.

  Just think about it. Those luscious oranges and grapefruits don't just appear,   They start as tiny buds nurtured by farmers and researchers who pour their hearts into the land. 

   📍 Welcome to Plated, a podcast that explores how food gets on your plate.  I'm your host, Sonia Mehmand, and together we'll learn more about the agricultural landscape, food producers, restaurants, and eaters that make up Tulare County.

 These conversations will highlight the intricate connection between food, culture, land, and community in our region.   As the temperatures begin to drop, I can't help but start dreaming about the citrus season ahead. I've been reflecting on my visit last year to the Lynn Cove Research Center, which is part of the University of California's Agricultural Research Network.

Lynn Cove focuses on enhancing citrus cultivation through scientific research and sustainable practices.  Every December, they hold an annual citrus tasting display, where over 200 of the latest varieties are showcased for the community to sample.  This event isn't just about tasting. It's a celebration of innovation and research aimed at improving the quality and sustainability of citrus farming. 

As we taste our way through unique flavors and discover new varieties, we'll hear from attendees, researchers, and growers about their passion for citrus and the future of this beloved fruit.  Of course, my husband and I couldn't help but kick things off by sampling a few ourselves. 

  This is a W. Mercat a fourier mandarin.  What's your impression of this mandarin us? 



 it's tasty.  Acidic.

 Sweet.  It's green on the outside  and orange on the inside.   

--

 My first conversation was with Ashraf Al Khrami, the director of the Lynn Cove Research and Extension Center. He explained the scale of this event and what it means for both the community and agricultural research..   

Lots of people, they don't know how many citrus varieties we have. So we educate the people, we show them the varieties, and they get more interested in agriculture.

   Is there anything of this scale anywhere else in California that's a good question because no, it's not. And  we're trying to hit the record.  With the largest number of citrus varieties in its play. And we're still working on this. And probably our goal is to make it  larger every year. 

And one day we'll have a nationwide fruit, citrus fruit exhibition.  That is my ultimate goal.   Here in Tulare County in Exeter, we'll have the biggest citrus fruit display.  We have 125 acre of fields. Those fields are research fields.  I mean that,  the researchers from all over California or other state as well who have from Arizona, Nevada, everywhere, they can come here and do experiment  to try to get,  innovative stuff to the growers.

 Before going To the growers field. They have to test it here. They are looking for innovative stuff. And always they come here to the center and they stop and say, Okay, what is new? And we hold  seminars,  workshops for the growers, show them up to date information, and they show interest. 

And, um, they support us.  We collected a good number of donations.  We have the support of the community because they appreciate what we are doing and they understand,   📍 really what is Linkoff is.

--

​

next up, I spoke to Maru Fernandez, who volunteered at the event and shared her thoughts on why this event is so crucial for the community.

--

So can you start off by telling me your name and what you do here at the Linkov Research Center? Yes, my name is Madhu Fernandez and I am just here volunteering for two days, yesterday and today. I work in Davis in the headquarters of the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources and I'm in administration and finance.

So what is a kind of public facing event like this?  mean for  a research center like Lynn Cove?  Well, it's it's very important because  it's part of our mission to to do outreach to the communities 

 I just saw someone brought,  a bag of leaves that had some kind of problem.  From big growers to,  the public.  they all come for, That connection to agriculture and learning more and we see a lot of families today.

So that's very important  would you say there's also like a community element to this? Oh  very important  the master gardeners are part of one of our statewide programs and  they join us , everybody knows each other.  

What would you tell someone who wants to come to this event next year?  Well,  come early because  it's getting known and, come  with your,  desire to learn a lot about all the different varieties. There are more than a hundred varieties of oranges and lemons.

  📍 It's very interesting.  Very fun. it's just so beautiful up here. 

. --

 After speaking to Maru, I couldn't help but go and find the Master Gardener she mentioned.

The UC Master Gardener program is an initiative of the University of California that brings practical, science backed gardening know how to Californians. I stopped by their booth to chat with Priscilla, who has been a Master Gardener since 2009. 

My name's Priscilla Gerard and I'm a retired high school teacher and I'm a master gardener.    I like going to public events and helping people with their gardening problems.  

I'm here today to answer home gardening questions from the public.  What's the most common question you've heard today?  We've gotten a lot of vegetable questions, but also on citrus, too. What's wrong with my tree? Why are the leaves yellow?

It's from a vitamin deficiency. They need fertilizer four times a year. And what would you say to someone who is. 

Thinking about coming to this event next year, what would you say to them to convince them to come?  Oh, I would say it's a wonderful free event, and you will learn and see more citrus than you've ever wanted to see in your life. And it's a wonderful, um, opportunity to taste  📍 things that you cannot find in the market.

--

 As Priscilla shares her gardening wisdom, it's also crucial to think about keeping those plants safe from pests. That's where Linkov's Sandeepa Gautam comes in. I'd like to think of her as a tree doctor, but let's see how she describes her work.

--

My name is Sanda Gautam and I am an IPM advisor, integrated Pest Management advisor for University of California.  Agriculture and natural resources. What actually is rewarding and what, uh, exciting part of the job is seeing all this public engagement and knowing that what I do contributes to events like this.

When I interact with  our growers and homeowners who have citrus, they tell me what their problem is, what they're struggling with, so that I get an idea.

Okay, I need to focus my research activities on this, and we develop,  research programs, and,  ask questions and find answers by collecting data. And then once we understand what the problem is and how to address it, I then back, communicate that back to my clientele so that  they can manage their trees better    you're like a doctor.  Yes, doctor for insects and yeah, diagnosing, yeah. 

--

 I also spoke with a new face at Lindcove, Barani, who shared his surprise at the sheer variety of citrus on display. My name is Barani.  I'm working here as an assistant specialist  I'm a new employee here.   This is my first year, uh, fruit display, and 

 I never see this much number of varieties here. It's 190 plus.  190 plus, and it's really surprising. I'm doing research in citrus, but I never seen this much varieties here. What's your favorite variety so far? Satsuma.  Satsuma is, I tasted, I like it. 

I think,  people should come here and explore because there are  so many varieties,  a very beautiful environment here, the valley, the mountain. So just spend it instead of going to mall, you know, some other place city side. ​



And it's not just the experts who love this event.

I also caught up with my friend Niccolo Go, an Instagrammer, film producer, and Citrus enthusiast who shared this excitement.

--

my name's,  Niccolo Go. I'm an occasional Instagrammer and a, Film producer. What's your Instagram handle? It is at Joaquin dot around  and why are you here today? What brought you out to Lincoln?  This is my favorite agricultural event of the year Where else can you taste like  200 maybe 300 varieties of citrus all at once Like I just tried  this Pomona acid less lemon And it's like nothing you've ever had in the world.

So you, you need to try it. What about this event makes it unique to Tulare County?  Uh, you know, we all know that Tulare County is  one of the hubs of agriculture in the whole state and perhaps the whole country. But what makes this unique is I don't think there is an opportunity to taste as much variation of citrus fruit.

From oranges, to lemons, to grapefruits, all in one place. Like, I, I dare you, and I would bet money on it, that there isn't a place anywhere in the world that would present this much variety. I'm just blown away. You know, every time I come, there's always something new. And, uh, it's completely unique. It's a lot of fun.

Have you come every year?  This is my, like, fourth or fifth year. And I always, like, bring, like, new people every time I come. So I invite friends over. Like, today I've got, like, my aunt and uncle with me. They're from New Jersey, so they've never seen anything beyond, like, a navel and a grapefruit, probably, in their life.

 So, it's just a lot of fun. I'm full, and I've only gotten through half. Like, I feel like I've already had a dozen citrus fruits just now. You gotta leave some room. You know, but  my vitamin C's up. I mean, my lips are probably white from, like,  from the acid.

 It's amazing.  I love this event. 

--

 As I spoke with Niccolo, I couldn't help but overhear a couple speaking French nearby.  Of course, I had to approach them and hear what brought them to Lindcove. 

--

  I'm Sarah. And I'm Vincent.  We're from Quebec City,  but we live in Mesa right now.  We moved to Arizona because he had a job in his field,  and then the house we moved into had some old citrus fruits, and for us it's very exotic, like coming from Quebec,  citrus doesn't grow in Canada,  at least not outside, and then we started looking into citrus fruits, Uh, We had planned to come last year, actually.   And then right before the trip, we got COVID. So this year is like the trip we've been waiting for, for a few years.  Wow! And how did you find out about this place?

 Looking for varieties because we're looking for  rare varieties to plant  It all started with the house because it has old citrus fruits and we didn't know how to take care of it and we wanted to keep them alive and then looking into the care for those trees We figured we could add some and then we started looking into it.

Like, I love perfume, so I tracked down a bergamot tree.  We want to try and make some jellies and  I might try to extract the oil.



--

  Whether you're an expert, a hobbyist, or simply curious, this event is a perfect place to learn and get inspired. 

One more highlight came from Sue, a member of the Tulare County Master Food Preservers program, who explained the importance of preserving food safely.

--



--

Could you tell me your name and a bit about the master preserver program? Sure. So I'm Sue and I'm with the Tulare County Master Food Preservers. I'm part of the first Graduating class of Master food preservers in Tulare County.

So thank you. So we're just  a small group right now, but we're really excited to be out in the county and,   teaching people about preserving food safely. So our mission really is to help our community learn about culturally appropriate, sustainable, safe ways to preserve,  food.  And we  since the pandemic and a lot of people were home  the interest in preserving foods kind of revived maybe a little bit.

 I've been preserving for a while,  people are  coming to that. and wanting to know, you know, I'm growing this in my garden or I got this at the farmer's market. And how do I keep this,  make this last so that I have this all year long and I don't waste a bunch of food,  that I've planted and grown.

So we provide classes and demonstrations and lots of information and recipes to try to help teach our community about ways that they can safely  preserve their food,  and  why is it important to preserve food safely? Well, because there are  so many things that can happen to food if it's not preserved safely.

 You read about or hear about,  things in the news with,  Listeria and E. coli and things where people are getting sick and they're hospitalized. And then there's,  botulism, which,  is the most dangerous. of all which,  can kill you.  And obviously we want to teach people about that because it's,  not detectable in your,  food.

So you could have something that has it in it if it hasn't been properly preserved or processed where it could be in there, but you wouldn't have any idea that it was in there. Which is,  really scary. So  textbooks from reputable sources,  to provide those to the public as being recipes that we know from the research that you can safely preserve.  Do you have a favorite way of preserving citrus?  Well, I actually really like this spiced orange jelly. It's a very easy recipe because it just uses the juice and sugar. And,  a really delicious spice packet that's got,  cinnamon and cloves and things in it.

It kind of smells like Christmas in a jar.  But  I would make it all year round, I think. And I'm really anxious to try it with different kinds of citrus because  The orange is really pretty, and I think, like, a blood orange would be really pretty because the juice is so, like, that ruby red color.

So, so far, that's my favorite. I do like making marmalades. They're a little more labor intensive because you're dealing with the peel and the pulp  

where can we find your workshops? So you can go online.  M. F. P. To Larry at Tulare County dot c a dot gov. Or you can follow us on instagram and  on Facebook, and we will post on our website about where we'll be and what classes will be teaching as things come up. 📍 

--

 Ashraf Elkrami,  Maru Fernandez, Priscilla Gerard, Sandeepa Gautam, Barani, Niccolo Goh, Sarah and Vincent, and Sue.

A big thank you to all of them for taking the time to speak with me.  From farmers to families, researchers to hobbyists, the annual citrus tasting event at Linkov is a place where Everyone can learn, taste, and appreciate the incredible variety of citrus that makes Tulare County special. If you haven't been, I highly recommend making the trip this coming December.

Come hungry and ready to explore. 

That's all for today's episode of Plated. Stay tuned for our next episode where I'll be speaking with Jennifer and Miguel, the owner of Monet's, a French inspired bistro in downtown Exeter that brings so much life and culture to the community.  This episode was produced and edited by me, Sonia Merhmand,  with support from Nasir Jebeli. Be sure to subscribe for more stories from the heart of California's agricultural community.

And until then, stay hungry and savor the stories all around you. 

--