The Repurposing Life

The Gift of The Humble Lemon

Lemon-the gift that keeps on giving. Everyone knows me to be a big fan of the citrus fruit. For food, health, beauty (I save the seeds for making a homemade skin moisturizer gel), household cleaning, laundry, even first aid. I’m basically a fanatic about it. But seriously, my mother (and grandmothers) were just as big fans of citrus. I wanted to find out if there was any scientific basis for people’s preference for this type of fruit.

How Citrus Fruits Became an Ancient Status Symbol

Lemons were a sign of privilege and wealth in ancient Rome. Even though citrus fruits are quite common in the Mediterranean and United States today, they actually originated in Southeast Asia. Dr. Dafna Langgut, an Archaeobotanist at the Institute of Archeology at Tel Aviv University in Israel, has tracked the long migratory patterns of citrus fruits in a new study.

Langgut began her study after finding the earliest surviving evidence of citrus (dating back some 2,500 years) in the remains of a royal garden in Jerusalem, which was part of a Persian province at the time. She examined ancient texts, art, artifacts, seeds and coins; together with the botanical remains of fossil pollen grains, charcoals, seeds and other fruit remnants to track the migration patterns.

The first citrus to arrive in the Mediterranean was the citron. It followed a path of westward migration, starting in Persia, traveling through the Middle East, and arriving in the Mediterranean around the 4th or 5th century B.C. Lemons arrived next, four centuries later. The earliest lemon remains are found in the legendary Roman Forum. This means that for more than a millennium, citron was the only citrus known in the Mediterranean Basin.

Langgut has traced the spread of citrus fruit from Southeast Asia to the Mediterranean, according to a report in Live Science. She used ancient texts, murals, coins, and other artifacts to study the ancient citrus trade, and she tracked the spread of citrus fruits from Southeast Asia into the Mediterranean through fossil pollen, charcoals, seeds, and other fruit remains.

Langgut found that, by the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C., the citron had spread to the western Mediterranean from the Levant. Is where a 2,500-year-old fruit was found in a Persian-style garden in Jerusalem. The oldest lemon found in Rome dates to the late first century B.C. and the early first century A.D. At first, citrons were reserved for the Roman elite. Who prized them for their healing qualities, pleasant odor, taste, and symbolic use.

Sour oranges, limes, and pomelos were grown as cash crops. More than a millennium later, made them available to more people. The Muslims played a crucial role in the dispersal of cultivated citrus in Northern Africa and Southern Europe. This is evident from the common names of the citrus types, which are derived from Arabic. Since the citron was the first to reach the Mediterranean, the whole group of fruits is named after it.

Since these early fruits were incredibly rare, they were coveted by the ancient elite; who boasted of their healing, cleaning powers, and their pleasant smell. The fruits even took on a religious significance in some early civilizations. While citron and lemon arrived in the Mediterranean as elite products, all other citrus fruits spread for economic reasons. And they arrived much later.

It wasn’t until the 10th century A.D., that invading Muslims introduced other citrus (sour orange, lime, pomelo) to the Mediterranean Basin. Sweet oranges and mandarins didn’t arrive until even later still (in the 1400s and 1800s.

A Short History of Citrus

The various species of citrus are believed to be native to the subtropical and tropical regions of Asia and the Malay Archipelago. Even in very early times, the appearance of both the beautiful tree and fruit attracted the attention of travelers and received mention in their written narratives.

In spite its popularity, the spread of the citrus tree around the world, was quite slow. Around 310 B.C. the first member of the citrus family was introduced to Europe. For several hundred years this was the only citrus fruit. As of 330 A.D. there is indication of the growing of oranges and lemons.

Now we know that the sweet orange had been grown in China for many centuries. It had apparently reached an advanced stage of cultivation before it became well known to Europeans. Han Yen-chih, wrote in 1178 A.D. and translated into English in the Monograph on the Oranges of Wên-chou, Chekiang, 1923, named and described some twenty-seven varieties of sweet, sour, and mandarin oranges.

He also described citrons, kumquats, and the trifoliate orange and discussed nursery methods, grove management, and diseases. There’s even some evidence that courtesans in France used citrons, halved and inserted like menstrual cups, as contraceptives.

Areas with temperate climates did their part to bring citrus to many lands, including the Americas. Through exploration and conquest, citrus found its way around the world.

Although not mentioned in the Bible, varieties of citrus did grow during biblical times, and became part of the religious culture. Even though there’s no word for “citrus” in ancient Greek or Hebrew; there are references to this type of fruit in instructions for religious ceremonies.

The Citrus of Biblical Times

Etrog, or ethrog, is a member of the larger class citron. It’s an oblong fruit with knobby skin, and light gold color. Jewish people were introduced to this fruit in Babylonia during their exile. Then later carried back to Palestine. Etrog became one of the “four elements” (palm branch, willows, myrtle, citron) used in the religious Feast of Booths.

The fruit is picked while still green, taking advantage of the excretion of ethylene gas, to further ripen the fruit in transit. Ethylene gas is the same gas released by apples; so some growers simply put the fruits in the same box as apples when transporting.

Citrus Seed Moisturizing Gel

The following is a centuries-old Japanese beauty secret. The use of yuzu (citrus) seeds to soften and moisturize skin in winter. Traditionally, citrus seeds were used to treat irritated and itchy skin. Citrus seeds are rich in pectin, which creates the gelling effect in this moisturizer. This gel absorbs quickly and leaves skin soft and supple.

This formulation works well for dry, sensitive skin. It is not likely to cause breakouts. The natural scent is citrus and fresh, but not over-powering.

While I’m confident that it’s safe for most. As always, I would strongly recommend a patch test before applying it liberally. I recommend keeping it refrigerator. You can save citrus seeds in the freezer. They last forever and can be used as needed. Plus the bonus of having a cooling effect during hot summer temperatures.

Citron is a Varied Family

Under the larger classification of citron, there are numerous varieties. Some are ribbed and bumpy on the outer rind. One variety has finger-like projections, and is known as “Buddha’s Hand.” Ancient times used citron for medical purposes. It was used in combating seasickness, intestinal problems, as an antibiotic, and and even as an antidote to poison.

The citron is unlike the more common citrus species we are familiar with today. The more popular citrus fruits are peeled to consume their pulpy and juicy segments. The citron’s pulp is dry, containing only a small quantity of juice. The main content of a citron fruit is the thick white rind, which cannot be separated from the segments easily. Today the citron is used for its fragrant zest, or rind.

Citrus Divides Medieval Classes

Medieval times may possibly have been some of the most fit times in our historical culture. The era lacked the scientific knowledge of nutrition and health that we have now. There was a natural phenomena that was keeping at least some people healthier. While the noble classes feasted on huge meals at extravagantly decadent parties; the peasant classes were busy working hard to provide for their families. The wealthy nobles of the Middle Ages ate little fresh fruit for several reasons:

• Simple fruit was not decadent enough for their station in life
• Unprepared food was viewed with some doubt, suspicion, and disdain because it came straight from the plant
• Raw foods were considered unclean in aristocratic society

Food was extremely important to the peasant classes. It had to be plentiful, so they could continue to work hard. Peasants were not fussy when it came to food. Commoners and the poor didn’t possess cooking facilities to process food, so they ate what they could forage.

The nobility, on the other hand, could lay around all day gorging themselves with lots of rich foods. For nobles, the richer the food the better, since for them opulence and decadence equated power and wealth. Nothing was more opulent than sugary, highly processed, rich, and fatty foods.

This lack of fresh fruit in the nobility diet lacked the vital nutrients that citrus provided the peasantry. This led to a variety of health problems including bad teeth, skin diseases, scurvy, and rickets.

Sweet and Sour Medieval Citrus Cuisine

During this Medieval era, the nobility and aristocracy looked at citrus with disdain. References to Bitter Orange, Sweet Orange, Lemon, and Lime exist in documents dating to that era. Bitter orange is a fruit similar to the modern orange, but much more bitter. Bitter orange was generally avoided altogether. The sweet orange that we know of today appeared only in the later part of the Middle Ages.

In 13th century Arabic culinary cuisine, sourness was being added to dishes. The use of sour apples, citron, pomegranates, and vinegar, started changing how people felt their food should taste. The citron, which was widely available, was extremely sour, and did not contain much pulp or juice. In Christian Europe, recipes of Arabic origin made with lemon juice, were called Limonia.

You can find these recipes in: the Liber de Coquina (or Book of the Kitchen), the Anonimo Toscano, the Anonimo Veneziano, and the Modus. The Libre del Coch also uses lemon and orange juice for sauces and stews. Candied lemon was used in Arabian cookery, and surfaced again at the end of the 16th century. For more on the archaeology of food, go to “The Rabbit Farms of Teotihuacán.”

Sources:
Homemade Citrus Seeds Moisturizing Gel Recipe and Photo
The Zerowaste Japan
https://www.thezerowastejapan.com/homemade-citrus-seeds-moisturizing-gel-lotion-recipe/
How Citrus Fruits Became an Ancient Status Symbol
https://www.history.com/news/how-citrus-fruits-became-an-ancient-status-symbol
by Brynn Holland
Updated: August 29, 2018, Published: July 31, 2017
A Short History of Citrus Fruits
https://world-food-and-wine.com/history-of-citrus
A History of Citrus Fruit
https://www.archaeology.org/news/5758-170724-archaeobotany-citrus-fruit
Clara Amit, Israel Antiquities Authority, Tel Aviv, Israel
Monday, July 24, 2017
Citrus fruit in historical France: Written sources, iconographic and plant remains
Agrumed: Archaeology and History of Citrus Fruit in the Mediterranean
https://books.openedition.org/pcjb/2243?lang=en
Véronique Zech-Matterne, Girolamo Fiorentino