Kinnow

Citrus nobilis × Citrus × deliciosa · Citrus

40 pairings

The kinnow is the workhorse mandarin of the Indian subcontinent — a deep-orange, intensely juicy, heavily seeded hybrid that dominates the citrus orchards of Punjab in both Pakistan and India. Bred in California and adopted wholesale across northern South Asia, it eats tart-sweet and drips with juice, its thin, glossy rind clinging tighter than a satsuma's; it is the fruit that fills winter markets from Lahore to Delhi and the mandarin most exported from the region.

Picking a good onedrag

Heavy, taut, deep orangePuffy, light, drying out

Market freshThe everyday kinnow: juice, segments, zest for a syrup.Buy it

Weight in handStill heavy, the rind just shifting on the flesh

RindOrange and taut, the gloss gone matte

The buttonButton on, browning around its rim

Scratched peelFragrant when rubbed, warmer and sweeter

What to look for, from heavy, taut, deep orange to puffy, light, drying out.

What one gives you

160 g

Typical weight

one specimen

Keeping ittap a band

Its own store is 5–8 °C: below about 5 °C the thin rind pits and stains brown, and it shows only once the fruit warms up. Most fridges run colder — use the crisper.

Humidity

90–95%

Loose in the crisper, unwashed — the thin rind gives up water fast, and once the fruit feels light the segments have gone papery.

Airflow

Vented, not sealed

A slit bag or an open bowl; sealed in plastic the rind sweats and blue-green mould starts at the button or at any bruise.

Hurries the button and the rot

It makes almost none itself and never sweetens off the tree. Packers degreen it in a heated room, not a fruit bowl; beside apples the button drops and stem-end rot comes sooner.

Preparing