38 Fun Facts About Lemon

A true lemon is a hybrid of the bitter orange and which other citrus fruit?

Citron. Linnaeus classed the lemon as a mere variety of citron; it is now known to be a separate hybrid species.

Some evidence suggests lemons first grew in what is now which country?

India, though the exact spot is unknown; botanists have long linked the lemon to Himalayan valleys where its wild relatives grow.

Which company switched from European citrus to mould to make citric acid?

Pfizer. The fermentation skills it built making citric acid later let it mass-produce penicillin for Allied soldiers in World War II.

Lemon juice keeps cut apples from browning by slowing what?

Enzymes. Cutting an apple lets polyphenol oxidase turn its phenols brown in air, and lemon's acidity slows that enzyme.

Botanically, a lemon is a hesperidium, which is a modified form of what?

Berry. Linnaeus named the citrus group Hesperideae after the Hesperides of Greek myth, who guarded a tree of golden apples.

The word 'lemon' reached English via Arabic from which language, where it named various citrus fruits?

Persian. Arabic laymun came from Persian limu, though the word may go back further still, perhaps to a Malay word for citrus.

Who brought lemon seeds to Hispaniola in 1493, introducing the fruit to the Americas?

Christopher Columbus. The same voyage carried sugar cane, which grew into a major Caribbean crop.

The lemon spread across the Mediterranean between roughly 1000 and 1150 during which historical movement?

The Arab Agricultural Revolution carried crops west across the Islamic world; lemons reached Iraq around AD 700 and were spread around the Mediterranean by 1150.

Which gas can packers use to turn green-picked lemons yellow faster?

Ethylene, though cool storage alone can also turn green lemons yellow.

A grandmother's words about turning lemons into lemonade are heard on which singer's 2016 album?

Beyoncé, whose album Lemonade arrived without warning as a 'visual album'.

Which naval surgeon's 1747 trial found oranges and lemons the best treatment for sailors with scurvy?

James Lind. Yet he never promoted citrus as the single cure, and his treatise had little impact at first.

On which ship did the famous 1747 scurvy trial take place while it patrolled the Bay of Biscay?

HMS Salisbury. Of the two sailors given oranges and lemons, one was fit for duty after six days, when the fruit ran out.

Which nickname for Britons grew out of the Royal Navy's daily anti-scurvy juice ration?

Limeys. The ration started as lemon juice in 1795, but limes later took over, and the nickname spread from sailors to all Britons.

Scurvy, the disease that lemon juice prevents, is caused by a lack of which nutrient?

Vitamin C, chemically ascorbic acid, is the missing nutrient in scurvy; the name 'ascorbic' literally means 'anti-scurvy'.

On his 1499 voyage, which explorer lost 116 of a crew of 170, mainly to scurvy?

Vasco da Gama lost 116 of 170 men on his 1499 voyage, mostly to scurvy; Magellan fared even worse two decades later, losing 208 of 230.

Who won the 1937 Nobel in Physiology or Medicine partly for isolating ascorbic acid?

Albert Szent-Györgyi first isolated it from adrenal glands, then found that Hungarian paprika was rich in it.

The Meyer lemon is a cross between one of the original citrus species and a hybrid of which two fruits?

Mandarin and pomelo. The Meyer's thin, tender skin made it hard to ship, so for decades it was mostly a backyard fruit.

In which country did Frank Meyer collect the Meyer lemon he introduced to the US in 1908?

China, where it was grown as an ornamental pot plant, long before American chefs made it a prized ingredient.

Most US Meyer lemon trees were destroyed because they were symptomless carriers of what?

Citrus tristeza virus. Virus-free 'Improved Meyer' trees, released by the University of California, later replaced them.

Which chef is credited with rediscovering the Meyer lemon as a food item?

Alice Waters, founder of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, put the Meyer lemon on restaurant menus; its popularity climbed further when Martha Stewart began featuring it in recipes.

Which lemon-lime soda once carried the words 'Lithiated Lemon Soda' in its name?

Seven Up, whose early name advertised lithium; no one knows for sure why the name includes a 7.

Which golfer's name is given to a drink of iced tea mixed with lemonade?

Arnold Palmer, who said the name caught on after a woman heard him order the mix and asked for the same.

In 1676, vendors in which city sold lemonade from tanks carried on their backs?

Paris. One of its lemonade sellers, the Sicilian Procopio, went on to open Le Procope, where writers such as Diderot later gathered.

One story says pink lemonade was invented in 1857 using water that had rinsed a circus performer's pink what?

Tights. Pete Conklin's lemonade was mostly water, sugar and tartaric acid, with a single lemon he kept using all season.

In a lemon battery, where does the electrical energy actually come from?

The energy comes from the zinc dissolving into the acid: zinc atoms give up electrons at that electrode, while hydrogen ions from the juice take them up at the copper.

A lemon battery works like which inventor's 1800 'pile'?

Alessandro Volta. Napoleon was so impressed by the pile that he gave Volta honours including the title of count.

Writing done in lemon juice turns brown and readable when exposed to what?

Heat. In World War I, British censors caught spies who had written secret reports in lemon juice.

Lemon peel is used commercially to manufacture which gelling agent used in jams?

Pectin. Jam from low-acid fruit can get extra lemon juice, because pectin needs acid to set.

Lemon juice in fish marinades neutralises which compounds responsible for fishy smells?

Amines. Fish smells largely of volatile trimethylamine, and acid keeps such amines from evaporating, so the odour fades.

Preserved lemons, brined in salt and lemon juice, are a signature condiment of which country's cuisine?

In Morocco, preserved lemons flavour tagines and salads; it is the softened peel rather than the pulp that cooks prize.

What is the culinary name for the white, bitter layer of a lemon peel found just under the zest?

The pith, which botanists call the albedo, is spongy and bitter, so cooks try to leave it behind when zesting.

Which monoterpene is the main component of citrus peel oil?

Limonene, named after the lemon; cleaning products use it for its citrus scent and because it cuts through grease.

Which French Riviera town holds a February carnival with floats built from citrus fruit?

Menton. Back when it was Europe's leading lemon producer, a hotel's citrus exhibition proved so popular that the town took it to the streets.

The 1975 US law making manufacturers honour warranties, backbone of 'lemon laws', is named after which two legislators?

Magnuson and Moss. Their act doesn't force anyone to offer a warranty, but any written warranty that is offered has to follow its rules.

Which economist's 1970 paper 'The Market for Lemons' used defective used cars to explain asymmetric information?

George Akerlof's 1970 paper 'The Market for Lemons' showed how buyers' inability to tell good cars from bad drives quality out of a market; it won him a share of the 2001 Nobel.

Which self-help author's 1948 book quoted the line 'If you have a lemon, make a lemonade'?

Dale Carnegie, though he credited the line to Julius Rosenwald, and Elbert Hubbard had printed versions decades earlier.

In the UK, lemon juice is traditionally squeezed over pancakes on which day?

Shrove Tuesday. Pancakes probably became the dish because households had to use up eggs and fat before the Lenten fast.

Which lemon hybrid is widely used as the rootstock that orange and grapefruit trees are budded onto?

Rough lemon. Its scant pulp and juice limit it to home use, so growers value the tree for its roots instead.