Lemon for Zest

Lemon, Citrus limon

The fruit of the lemon tree carries the message of zest and liveliness. Not everything about life is, or should be, sweet. Sometimes we need zest as the accent.

The origins of lemon are not known, although it is believed that the tree was brought from India to Southern Italy as early as 200 CE. What lemon tree is in our Memoir Garden? The Eureka. This variety bears fruit all year although it is more proliferate in the winter, spring, and early summer. Thinking about it will perhaps help us have more of those aha moments.

Because I live in California, I’m partial to Meyer lemons and have 25 of these trees growing in my garden. My neighbor walks down regularly, picking what he needs. I love having an abundance that can be easily shared. Reaching as high as 12 feet, these special trees bear fruit all year. In 1908, Frank Meyer, a plant explorer for the US Department of Agriculture, found this lemon tree, probably a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange, in China where it was grown as a courtyard tree. The fruit is rarely available commercially because the thin, soft, smooth rind does not ship well. Of course, the paradox is that it is the delicate rind that makes it so wonderful to use in recipes. I make a salad that features thin slices of the fruit and regularly preserve them in a salt brine, a Mediterranean condiment that adds zest to everything from asparagus and fresh green beans to rice or whole wheat pasta.

My most recent citrus addition is Buddha’s Hand (Fingered Citron). It is grown just for its zest, having no pulp inside. The fruit is considered a symbol of extreme happiness and long life in Buddhism.

Imagine looking out our window at a beautiful lemon tree. The yellow fruit is our reminder that the sour can bring zest to life.

Visit our Writer’s Store with its products for encouragement and sharing that feature many of the herbs from our Memoir Garden.