In praise of lemons

By Giorgio e Caterina Calabrese

Once we just squeezed them. Now we use them in all sorts of ingenious, and healthy, ways.

Up to a few years ago, the only part of the lemon used was its juice, to flavour both sweet and savoury food. Thus the saying "squeezed like a lemon", meaning exploited to the full and then thrown away. Now nothing is wasted. The peel is used to make a delicious liqueur called limoncello and lemons are being rediscovered and appreciated for what they really are - fresh fruit. No longer the least important of citrus fruits, only good for squeezing and crushing, the lemon is now presented at table on a par with other citrus fruits. Some varieties in particular, such as the lemons of <%=ischia%>, are especially suited to bring about this change in habits.
Citrus fruits originally came from China, where their presence is documented from the times of the Emperor Ta Yu (2205-2197 BC). The first citrus fruit to spread to the Mediterranean was the citron. The first lemons were probably imported by the Romans from the East via the Red Sea, but they became popular on the Mediterranean coasts thanks to the Arabs and Crusaders. Citrus fruits belong to the "Rutaceae" family, while the Citron (Citrus medica) belongs to the genus "Citrus" from which the lemon derives (Citrus limon). Lemons require higher temperatures than tangerines and oranges but cannot live in tropical, humid climates, which are more suited to limes - for this reason, they do very well in the Mediterranean. In Italy, where lemons have been grown for a long time, there are three predominant varieties: "Femminiello", "Monachello" and "Interdonato".

The first of these, Femminiello, has a great quality called reflorescence, meaning that fructification takes place several times a year and produces fruits with varying characteristics. The first flowering, in March, yields a very juicy lemon known commercially as "Marzano" in the late autumn and winter. The main flowering takes place from mid-April to mid-May and yields "winter fruit" from the end of September-October to March known as "primofiore". From the end of May to early June a third flowering produces lemons that often grow in clusters, called "maialini" or "biancucci" because of their pale yellow colour. The July-August flowering yields "verdelli" lemons that ripen in summer. If the autumn season is mild the plant flowers a fifth time and yields "bastardi" or "codoni". This plant's extraordinary fruitfulness is perfectly expressed by Tasso: "With eternal flowers the fruit lasts eternally; And while one sprouts, the other ripens."
Lemons, like oranges and citrons, are acidulous fruits with considerable quantities of water, citric acid, vitamin C and a low sugar content.
Lemons contain less calories than any other fruit known today. One hundred grams of lemon provide only 11 calories, yet lemons are not often used in slimming diets because their intensely acidulous taste means they are rarely consumed as fresh fruit.
Lemon juice is an ideal and refreshing drink - one hundred grams only supply six calories.
Lemons are also used as an aromatizer in other drinks - tea with lemon, for example, and lemon water ice, natural thirst quenchers with a low calorie content.
It is often advisable to use lemon juice rather than other aromatizers such as vinegar because it is very well tolerated by the human body. It may seem a contradiction in terms, but the citric acid contained in lemons is a weak acid that de-acidifies the stomach in people suffering from gastritis - rather like triggering off a self-protection mechanism by stimulating the production of carbonates and bicarbonates.

Lemon juice, and in general all citrus fruit juice, should never be sweetened because sugar and honey alter its biological value and can result in harmful reactions given that the body is unable to assimilate the acid elements of the lemon and is forced to secrete greater quantities of hydrochloric acid, which can lead to gastritis.
Lemon peel has a particularly pleasant fragrance because it contains an essential oil consisting of 90% limonane, while the remaining quantity is divided between canphene, pinene and phellandrene.
The peel and the juice both contain limonoids and limonane, which is why all parts of the fruit should be used.
The juice produced by an average-sized lemon amounts to twenty grams. One portion per day is very good for your health, since the above-mentioned substances help to prevent serious diseases and to lower levels of cholesterol.

Thanks to these beneficial qualities, lemons were stocked on ships travelling long distances, because months of navigation resulting in a scarcity of fresh food often caused an illness called scurvy, also known as the "sailors' disease", brought about by a lack of vitamins. From the end of the 18th century, the Admiralty ordered a certain quantity of lemon juice to be distributed to all sailors of the British Navy after five or six weeks sailing, thus drastically reducing the death-rate caused by this disease. In 1740 Admiral Vernon had the brilliant idea of mixing the lemon juice with rum - from then on, the distribution of lemon juice became the high point of the sailor's day. Women in Southern Italy availed themselves of the astringent properties of lemons to keep their skin smooth and clear by cleansing their faces with a mixture of water and lemon juice. In short, lemons are a regular treasure-trove, a daily source of health.

Giorgio e Caterina Calabrese