Calamansi

Calamansi is a small, round Filipino citrus fruit (Citrus × microcarpa) in the citrus family (Rutaceae). A hybrid of kumquat and mandarin, it stays green outside even as its inner flesh ripens to orange. Calamansi is intensely sour with a sweet, floral citrus aroma that serves as the everyday souring and finishing acid of the Philippines. A simple squeeze brightens grilled meats, pancit, sisig, and lugaw the way lemon or lime does elsewhere. It’s the foundation of the sawsawan, the table dipping sauces, where its juice is blended with soy sauce into toyomansi or splashed into fish sauce.