Yuzu

Yuzu is an aromatic East Asian acid citrus used mainly for its fragrant peel and sour juice. Sauces, preserves, sweetened drinks, and other cooking uses make more of its character than eating it like a sweet mandarin.^{⁠[1]⁠[12]}

A 2021 genome study identifies Yuzu as an F1 hybrid of mangshanyeju wild mandarin and an Ichang papeda seed parent. A 2016 marker study had proposed a different explanation from the accessions it tested; the later genome result supports the parentage described here.^{⁠[13]⁠[14]}

The fruit has rough, bumpy rind, pale flesh, and many large seeds. UCR reports that green fruit is difficult to peel and that peeling becomes easier with maturity. The Mulberries found medium-low juice yield, low sweetness, high sourness, and lemon-lime flavor with floral and honey-like aromas.^{⁠[1]⁠[12]}

The Mulberries recorded about 70 g per fruit and 12 °Brix in its Yuzu review. Those readings join the existing dated UCR samples in the fruit averages. Bitterness differs between reports: The Mulberries detected none in its flesh or rind, while Weird Explorer found bitter peel and little flesh bitterness. No pH reading is supplied by these videos.^{⁠[12]⁠[10]⁠[1]}

Sharp thorns can scar fruit and complicate harvest. Commercial growers use grafting to shorten the wait for fruit, while seed-grown trees may have a long juvenile period. The growers featured by Business Insider use greenhouses for East Coast production after unsuccessful outdoor plantings; cold-tolerance claims in taste videos do not establish a safe minimum for every tree.^{⁠[11]⁠[10]⁠[12]}

JETRO traces Yuzu to China’s upper Yangtze region and describes its passage through Korea to Japan before the Nara period, without an exact arrival year. Its long culinary history includes fragrant peel seasonings and sour juice sauces. UCR’s CRC 1216 accession derives from seed collected by Frank N. Meyer, with a recorded source date of February 25, 1918.^{⁠[15]⁠[1]}