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Tuesday 29 December 2015

Lemon

Lemons are thought to have first grown in Assam (a region in northeast India), northern Burma or China.

The very first uses for the lemon in the Mediterranean were as an ornamental plant in early Islamic gardens.

The habit of serving a slice of lemon with fish started in medieval western Europe. This was because it was believed that if a person accidentally swallowed a fish bone, the lemon juice would dissolve it.

The lemon was introduced to the Americas in 1493 when Christopher Columbus brought lemon seeds to Hispaniola on his voyages.


The surgeon who discovered lemons could prevent scurvy, James Lind, had a last name that derived from the Old Norse for "lime tree."

The British Royal Navy started providing a daily ration of lime or lemon juice to all its men to protect them from scurvy in the late 1700s. As a result some Americans started nicknaming British sailors "limeys", as this was a current term used for both lemons and limes.

The world's heaviest lemon was grown by farmer Aharon Shemoel on his farm in Kefar Zeitim, Israel in 2003. The mighty citrus fruit weighed 5.265 kg (11 lb 9.7 oz).

70 per cent of a lemon is sugar compared with 40 per cent of a strawberry. It’s citric acid that makes a lemon taste so sour.

Lemon juice is 5-6% citric acid—much more than most fruit or vegetable juice—which is what gives lemons their distinct and tart taste.

As lemon juice is used to make invisible ink, a man once tried to rob a bank thinking he was invisible by putting lemon juice on his face.

One lemon tree will produce about 1,500 lemons a year.


Martha Stewart brings her own fresh lemons when she travels, "just in case they don't have them on the plane."

Lemons will repel spiders.

Source Food For Thought by Ed Pearce

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