276 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1960

7. McColloch, R. J. and R. G. Rice. 1955. Properties of methods used at the Citrus Experiment Station. Florida Agr. stored frozen orange concentrate observed by differential Exp. Sta. Tech. Bui. 570. cloud determination. Food Technol. 9: 70-73. 10. Rouse, A. H. and C. D. Atkins. 1955. Methods for 8. Olsen, R. W., R. L. Huggart and Dorothy M. Asbell. estimation of insoluble solids in citrus juices and concen 1951. Gelation and clarification in concentrated citrus juices. trates. Proc. Florida State Hort. Soc. 68: 117-121. !l. Effect of quantity of pulp in concentrate made from seedy varieties of fruit. Food Technol. 5: 530-533. 11. Rouse, A. H., C. D. Atkins and E. L. Moore. 1957. 9. Rouse, A. H. and C. D. Atkins. 1955. Pectinesterase Factors contributing to the storage life of frozen concentrated and pectin in commercial citrus juices as determined by orange juice. Food Technol. 11: 218-221.

PROCESSED PRODUCTS FROM MURCOTT ORANGE

PART I. AVAILABILITY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF FRUIT'

E. J. Deszyck and S. V. Ting and W. G. Long of the United States De partment of Agriculture, Orlando, have been Florida Citrus Experiment Station conducting a state-wide study on the seasonal Lake Alfred changes of the juice characteristics in order to suggest adequate standards for this va The Murcott orange is the latest citrus va riety. riety to achieve commercial prominence in The purpose of this paper is to present Florida. Several names are commonly used information concerning fruit and juice char for this variety, including Smith tangerine, acteristics and the availability of the fruit. and Murcott, but the name officially adopted Fruit characteristics. — The Murcott, unlike and used in the Florida Citrus Code (9) is tangerines, is firm, tight-skinned and without Murcott honey orange. puffiness. The fruit is flat, heavy and sinks The Murcott originated naturally rather in water; field boxes of this fruit grown on than through a planned breeding program. sour orange rootstock averaged 105 pounds, Its genetic histoiy is unknown, but it may while that on rough lemon weighed 97 pounds. be a tangor (hybrid of Citrus reticulata X The rind is smooth with color varying from C. sinensis), similar to the Temple orange. yellow to deep orange. Because of the thin Recently Kesterson and Hendrickson (1) have rind, the fruit "plugs" easily on picking and shown that the coldpressed oil of Murcott is therefore is usually clipped for fresh fruit similar in chemical and physical composition use. In heavy crops small fruit seems to pre to that of the tangerine. At present several dominate. Each, fruit contains 12 sections and stories exist regarding the origin of the Mur is quite seedy. cott, one being that Charles Murcott Smith had planted the first trees in the early 1920's Juice characteristics. — The outstanding fea at Bayview, Florida (4,8). Some of the orig tures of the juice of the Murcott honey orange inal Murcott trees still stand there today. are the deep reddish-orange color, high soluble solids, and high ratio. The juice characteristics The Murcott fruit has been in great de of this fruit grown on two rootstocks during mand as fresh fruit. This orange has eye- four seasons appear in Table 1. Information appeal, peels easily, and is of exceptionally on juice color is presented in Part II of this good eating quality, being very sweet, juicy report. The soluble solids content in the juice and tasty to most consumers. The Murcott from fruit on sour orange stock was exception reaches prime eating quality after most of the ally high ranging from 12.5 percent on Janu tangerines and mandarin hybrid fruit have ary 25, 1960, to 15.8 percent in 1958. The been harvested, and appears satisfactory even amount of solids in a 90-pound box of fruit, in May. Some shippers claim that this fruit reflecting both the solids and juice contents, has also excellent shipping and keeping qual amounted to 7 pounds or more. Even on ities. rough lemon stock the solids content was quite As yet there are no separate regulations high, but the pounds of solids in 90 pounds for the internal quality of Murcott honey of fruit was less than on sour orange stock. On orange. However, since 1957, P. L. Harding both rootstocks ratios were fairly high.

x\n cooperation with the Florida Citrus Commission. Juice characteristics as affected by fruit Florida Agricultural Experiment Stations Journal Series, size are shown in Table 2. In general, as in No. 1143. DESZYCK AND TING: MURCOTT CHARACTERISTICS 277

Table 1. Juice characteristics of Murcott honey oranges on two rootstocks during four seasons1

Weight Juice Soluble Acid Ratio Solids per Sampling date per fruit % solids Z 90-lb. box S % lb.

Sour Orange Rootstock 1/22/57 158 58.5 14.0 .98 14.3 7.4

2/14/58 145 51.6 15.8 .90 17.6 7.3

2/ 6/59 135 57.9 14.3 .91 15.9 7.5 2/13/592 - - -- 13.6 .85 16.0 - -

1/20/60 193 59.0 13.4 .69 19.4 7.1

1/25/602 - - -- 12.5 .86 14.5 - -

Rough Lemon Rootstock 2/ 9/57 138 47.0 12.6 .78 16.2 5.3

3/28/57 - - - - 12.0 .87 13.8 -- 2/ 3/602 - - 48.0 11.5 .63 18.5 5.0

Fruit on sour orange was grown in one grove at Ft. Pierce; fruit on rough lemon was grown in three groves in Polk and Lake Counties.

2 Results obtained by R. W. Barron on juice from not less than ten boxes of fruit used for processing.

Table 2. Effect of size on juice characteristics of Murcott honey orange on sour orange harvested on February Murcotts grown in the state. The amount of 7, 19591 Murcott oranges sold at auction is known, but express shipments, that sold on road-side Fruit Weight Soluble Acid stands and to canneries are unknown. In view size per fruit solids X No./box g % of this, information is presented which may be useful inVvaljiating the Murcott potential 294 80 14.7 .98 15.0 for the fresh fruit^tn^m-ocessing industries.

246 88 14.6 .98 14.9 This information covers cc^Qercial plantings, movement of nursery trees to FloVi^ad 210 98 14.9 1.07 13.9 tions, fresh fruit shipments to auctior 176 115 14.2 .98 14.5 yield and other factors. 150 135 14.0 .91 15.3 According to the latest information, over

120- * 158 13.6 .83 16.4 one-quarter million Murcott trees, equivalent to nearly 4000 acres, have been planted in 1 Thirty fruit in each sample. commercial groves in Florida (6, 7, 10). This other citrus fruit, the solids and acid content number of Murcott trees represented one-sixth tended to be lower but ratio tended to be the number of Temple trees in 1956 (10). higher with increasing size of the fruit. Most of the Murcott trees were located in Lake, Orange, and Polk counties. Over 90 Fruit availability. - At the present time only percent of these trees were non-bearing dur incomplete records exist on the volume of ing 1954-55 (4). Undoubtedly some trees

BARRON AND OLSEN: MURCOTT PRODUCTS 279

the price of Murcotts at the auctions averaged deep reddish-orange color. Approximately about $4.50 per % bushel box, while that of 4000-5000 acres are now planted in commer oranges averaged approximately the same cial groves with most of the trees being of amount for 1% bushel box, or half the price non-bearing ages. The Murcott orange is in of the Murcotts (11). Since Murcott oranges great demand as fresh fruit and consequently for fresh fruit are clipped, the cost of harvest only limited amounts are used in processing. tends to be higher than for oranges but sim ilar to tangerines. The packout of Murcott LITERATURE CITED has been extremely high because external grade standards have been lowered for this fruit. Off-size fruit may be used in the export

trade because of the excellent storage and of shipping qualities (4). Only eliminations con 26 sisting of very small fruit and that from very young trees will be available to the processor for several years. In summary, the Murcott honey orange has exceptional fruit and juice characteristics as fresh fruit, and also has a pleasing taste to dafa,, : J' W' N°teS °n AAurcott oran9e« Unpublished most consumers. This fruit is smooth, firm, A S-tatu of f'°rida cltrus fru't laws. Florida Department Agriculture, Winter Haven,, Floridaorida 1959 u*P*"™m heavy, and has a thin rind which varies in •?*?*** Plt- BdfB?frd_,of FldFlorida- Mcmdarin and color from yellow to deep orange. The juice Florida '" 9 aS °f December' 1956- contains high soluble solids, high ratio, and a ^S^^Frult Dl9est 46

PROCESSED PRODUCTS FROM MURCOTT ORANGE

PART II. CHARACTERISTICS OF PROCESSED PRODUCTS'

R. W. Barron and R. W. Olsen one lot of packinghouse eliminations obtained Florida Citrus Experiment Station from the East Coast citrus area. Canned Mur- oott orange juice was also processed from this Lake Alfred sarne lot of fruit. During the 1959-60 season, packs of frozen Murcott concentrate and can Most of the Murcott oranges produced in Florida at ihis time are being utilized as fresh ned juices were prepared from 2 lots of grove fruit. However, some packinghouse elimina run fruit, one of them from an East Coast grove and x the other from a grove in Lake tions are being sent to processing plants for County. x use in processed products. Because of this and since some increase in the production of The frozeri-Murcott concentrates were pro Murcott oranges is anticipated, this investi cessed using proce^ttres^with some variations gation was undertaken to obtain information as indicated in Table 1. Aft^the fruit was concerning the characteristics of both frozen washed, the juice was extracted fn^niltlje fruit concentrated and canned Murcott orange with a Food Machinery Inline extractor^ juice. finished in a screw-type finisher. Variations in yield of juice from the same lot of fruit Experimental Procedure were obtained using different prefinisher Preparation of experimental packs of frozen tubes, different extractor settings and by Murcott concentrate and canned Murcott varying the screen sizes and settings on the juice. -Packs of frozen Murcott orange con finisher. The Murcott concentrates were made centrate were prepared during the 1958-59 in the large pilot plant evaporator (1). Un- citrus season in the Station pilot plant from heated juice was concentrated for two packs ^Cooperative research by the Florida Citrus Commission and juice stabilized at 165 °F., prior to evap and Florida Citrus Experiment Station. oration, was used for four packs. The cutback Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Journal Series, No. 1159. juice used in all of the packs was not heated.