THE KITCHEN GARDENER Lemons

This versatile hybrid fruit brings zest and zing to Mediterranean dishes, writes SIMON RICKARD.

- SIMON RICKARD

Lemons are the sourest of fruits, and yet the most versatile. Which other fruit can lend its flavour to such a variety of sweet and savoury dishes alike?

The lemon’s origins are uncertain. We know it is a hybrid involving the bitter orange (itself a hybrid of the pomelo and the mandarin), and the citron from India and Southeast Asia. The citron and bitter orange probably first met in northern India. It is possible that some kind of ancestral lemon first appeared there. However, its refinement into the elliptical yellow fruit we know today most likely occurred in the Mediterranean basin. Interestingly, Chinese authors wax lyrical about the orange and other citrus fruits, but remain shtum on the lemon until the 12th century, several centuries after it was already reported growing in the Mediterranean. There are already references to lemons in Mesopotamia and Egypt in around 700 CE, and Sicily in around 1000 CE. Lemons are depicted in murals at Pompeii, which fell victim to Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE.