Citron
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| Citrus medica L. |
The Citron (Citrus medica) is a species of citrus fruit. It is characterized by its thick rind and small sections. Generally, it is eaten preserved or in bakery goods, such as fruitcakes. (The candied peel rather than the fruit is often used in cooking.) The citron is mostly grown near the Mediterranean and in Central and South America.
The citron goes by many names in different countries; one popular reference is cedrat, which is the french name for the fruit. Theophrastus referred to the citron as the Persian or Median Apple, and later came to be known as the Citrus Apple. Pliny's Natural History gives an account of the tree (HN xii.7) that some called the Assyrian, others the Median "apple" (the generic Greco-Roman name for globose fruits).
The citron was the first of the citrus fruits known to the Romans. In Pliny's time the fruit was never eaten (it began to be used in cooking by the early 2nd century), but its intense perfume was used, penetrating clothes to repel noxious insects (compare Citronella). According to Pliny, attempts to grow the Citron in pots for its medicinal properties were unsuccessful. This is possibly due to the fact that pure strains of citrons have trees producing less than 10 fruits a tree [verification needed].
The citron is known as the etrog (Hebrew: אֶתְרֹג) by religious Jews, who wave it ritually as one of the Four Species during the holiday of Sukkot each fall. Citrons that have been bred with lemon (in order to increase output per tree and make the tree less fragile) are not kosher for use as part of the Four Species. This is a big problem for religious Jews, and great effort is spent certifying that the Citron has never been bred or grafted with a lemon.
In many languages other than English, a normal lemon is called a "citron" and a lime is called a "limon".
Although the East Asian citrus fruit yuzu (also called yuja) is sometimes called a citron, it is actually a separate species, Citrus junos.
[edit] See also
- Buddha's hand, a type of citronar:أترج
da:Cedrat de:Zitronatzitrone es:Citrus medica fr:Cédrat he:אתרוג ja:シトロン sk:Citronát fi:Sukaattisitruuna th:ส้มโอมือ yi:אתרוג
