Hi. This is Tammy Proctor. Welcome to Eating the Past.
As you know, we've been talking about spices and herbs and today I thought I might talk about something that's a fruit, but that is also really important in how we flavor foods.That is the lemon.
I was recently in Greece while I was on sabbatical and along the streets in Athens and some of the other Greek cities are citrus trees. And so it made me remember how much I like lemons and how important they are to the way we flavor foods and also things like cocktails.
And it's interesting because it originated in some form, probably in northern India, Pakistan. And then at some point in its history, it was crossed with the lime. And then later, after it moved to the Middle East, it was crossed probably with a pomelo. The lemon, as we know it is kind of a mix of different kinds of citrus bred over time into what is this delectable little treat.
It was introduced into the Middle East and the Mediterranean area by about 1000 maybe a little after. It was established because there are European accounts of crusaders bringing that back to Europe with them. It was planted in Spain, North Africa, many parts of the world. Today, a lot of the citrus comes from the United States so it's something that's pretty adaptable. Doesn't have to be grown in just one region.
So, the other thing I found kind of interesting is that there are different varieties of lemon and I think that you notice this sometimes in the grocery store, most of what we get are the large, I think they're called Ponderosa varieties. They're a bigger lemon than there are the Meyer lemons which are very popular in the United States. And if you've had those, they have a different skin. They're kind of more golden. They have a thinner skin. They're very juicy.
And according to the research I did, they're a cross between the lemon and some other kind of citrus, like an orange or a mandarin, which is partly what gives them that different flavor. It's sometimes described as having sort of a thyme note to it so very, very different.
In thinking about how lemons are used, it's very versatile. It can be used as a condiment. You can use it for marinating. You can use it for flavoring. It was used in beauty products. And of course, I'm a British historian, so it's well known for its ability to help sailors fight off scurvy because of the high vitamin C content.
A couple of other things that I learned about it that I thought were interesting. One is that as the lemon ripens, it gets less sour and more juicy. So sometimes when I get lemons from the store and I put them through the juicer, I feel like I'm getting way more juice, and I guess that maybe that has to do with how long they've been sitting on the grocery store shelf.
I'm sure it also has to do with varieties, because you probably know too that lemons come with very thick skin sometimes or very thin skins, like the Meyer ones.
Speaking of skins, you can use the zest and the rind for a number of things. And the last few years, I've been using lemon zest more in baking, and it really helps pull out the other flavors. So, in addition to giving it a nice lemon taste, it kind of amplifies other things.
The fruit is often used for garnish, so lemon slices on cocktails or on the sides of plates. Last thing that it's used for is to prevent discoloration. A lot of times, at least when I was a child, I can remember going to potlucks where you would take apple slices and put them in lemon water so that they didn't turn brown when you put them out on a buffet.
To end today, I just wanted to briefly mention that one of my favorite uses of lemon is in salad dressing. And as we're coming into salad season, I'll just give you a quick recipe for salad dressing that I use:
Squeeze a whole lemon, use that same amount of a good olive oil with that lemon, and then mix in, I usually use about a teaspoon of some kind of good Dijon mustard. Whisk that all together, add a little salt and pepper, and you have a fantastic dressing very much made easy.
Okay, for more information about spicy foods, please join us on eating the past every Sunday at noon, right before the splendid table on your UPR Station.