Known as "The Fruit of Ghosts," Citrus Indica (Memang Nerang) is a small, thin-skinned fruit packed with large seeds and scant, sour juice. Though commercially unfavorable, Citrus Indica possesses a gene that can be bred into monocultures of Navel and Valencia oranges, potentially making them immune to citrus greening disease—a devastating pathogen threatening citrus cultivation worldwide. Bitter, wild, and now endangered, protecting Citrus Indica is crucial to preserving the genetic diversity that ensures the future of global citrus.
BBC journalist Dan Saladino has spent over a decade researching foods at risk of extinction, and he traveled on behalf of Rose to India’s Garo Hills to get closer to Citrus Indica and learn more about the region’s Indigenous people and their relationship to the fruit. Dan's contacts received permission to film from the local authorities, on the condition that we would make the footage available to schools in nearby communities as so little is known about the Garo people and region.
While Dan was filming in the Garo Hills, we met with Tracy Khan, curator of the Citrus Collection at UC Riverside, home to the world’s largest citrus collection—around 2,500 trees representing more than 1,050 unique cultivars. Tracy allowed us to leave with fruit suspected to be Citrus Indica, complete with a permission slip signed by Governor Gavin Newsom.
The first oranges arrived in Sicily in the 9th century via traders who shipped citrus from India and China into southern Europe, so we traveled to Italy to learn more about the fruit that has evolved in the landscapes surrounding Mount Etna. Here, we ate varieties of psychedelically vivid oranges directly off the tree.
Back home, we sent the fruit from UC Riverside to National Geographic photographer Anand Varma to be documented, along with local citrus as unique as the varieties in Sicily, sourced by rare fruit distributor Joyce Zhang from small citrus farms across California.
This film documents our journey from India to Italy to California in search of rare and forgotten citrus—an effort to support local biodiversity so that we never have to live in a world without it.
Explore more: https://www.roselosangeles.com/seasonals/citrus-indica
Shop: https://www.roselosangeles.com/shop/citrus-indica/
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Written by Dan Saladino
Produced by Rose Productions
Directed by Rob Fraebel
Original Score by Stuart Bogie
Cinematography by Jason Taylor, Drew Kelly, Rob Fraebel
Animations by Conner Griffith
Macro Video by Anand Varma, Mark Unger
Edited by Rob Fraebel
Rose Productions 2025