[Sca-cooks] Pomecitron

[Johnna Holloway]

There are a couple of possiblities.
One is that he is talking about the CITRON, which we candy the peel but 
don't really eat the
fruit of today. Gerald talks about the "citron tree" in his text and 
then captions
the illustration as "Malus medica The Pome citron." It is of a very 
pleasant smell
and had a soure juice.
The other would be that he had encountered an Assyrian Apple which
according to Gereald bore a pale yellow fruit that tasted sharp as a lemon.
There would be an outside chance that it's a Pomelo too. Modern pomelos
have been recrossed with grapefruits so they don't resemble the fruits of
earlier times. In fact all the citrus varieties have been so much 
improved, it's
hard to match up the fruits of today with what would have been growing 
wild then.

I am working again on citrus fruits. If I find something more 
definative, I'll be back.

Johnnae llyn Lewis


>> I am currently reading "Travels in Persia 1627-1629" by Thomas 
>> Herbert. In his descriptions of fresh fruits he frequently mentions 
>> the "pomecitron" - he also mentions "oranges" and "lemons" - 
>> apparently the oranges were sweet since he discusses eating them as 
>> is. I wonder if anyone has any idea what it is...
>>
>> Anahita
>>
> David Friedman wrote:
> Could it just be a citron? Is he eating it straight, or is it used in 
> cooking?