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Calamansi
Citrus x microcarpa · Citrus
40 pairings
Calamansi (the calamondin) is the Philippines' all-purpose citrus: a small, round, thin-skinned fruit, no bigger than a large marble, that ripens from deep green to orange while its flesh stays vividly orange. The juice is fiercely sour — sharper than a lime — yet carries a sweet, almost mandarin-and-orange-blossom perfume that sets it apart from other acid citrus. Squeezed over grilled meats, noodles and soups, stirred into soy sauce or fish sauce as a dipping condiment, and pressed into the ubiquitous chilled calamansi juice, it is the single sour note woven through nearly every Filipino table.
Shop firmThe all-rounder: sawsawan, marinades, a squeeze over noodles.Everyday best
SkinColour patchy, the sheen going dull
WeightHeavy, but hard right through
Stem endCalyx on, browning at its edge
Scratched peelFragrant when rubbed, the blossom note softer
What to look for, from heavy, glossy, calyx on to light, shrivelled, calyx gone.
What one gives you
13 g
Typical weight
one specimen
45%
Juice yield
450 ml a kilo
Keeping ittap a band
Nobody has measured a chilling point for calamansi: the handbooks hold it at 9-10 C and no colder than 7, so the fridge door beats the back of the shelf.
Humidity
85-95%
A rind barely a millimetre thick and no pith behind it: in dry air it shrivels and goes light within days.
Airflow
Vented, not sealed
A vented bag or an open bowl, never sealed - in damp plastic the stem scar sweats and green mould starts.
Yellows it and drops the stem
It makes almost none itself, but a neighbouring apple or banana yellows the green peel and loosens the pedicel - the two things that date a calamansi.