[Sca-cooks] Lemons? Limes? Confusion?

Terry Decker t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net
Wed Jul 9 05:30:43 PDT 2008


The translated recipes call for "sweet lime."  IIRC, "sweet lemon" shows up 
in German as a term for lime.  It might be worth looking at the original 
transcription to see what was actually written.

The Palestine lime should be Citrus limettoides AKA the sweet lime or the 
Indian sweet lime.  Interesting pattern, eh wot?

Bear

<clipped>
> I know the names for lemon and lime are very similar both in Arabic and in 
> most European languages, as others have remarked. And thanks for that OED 
> information, Huette, although it only speaks to English and not when the 
> fruits were differentiated in other places.
>
> So given the linguistic confusion between lemons and limes, if limes were 
> really being grown in Europe, then i wonder if they may have been used 
> interchangeably with lemons in cuisine. Does this sound likely?
>
> Or were they only used medicinally?
>
> Interestingly (well, to me anyway), that article that Bridgit pointed out 
> indicates that not only were bitter oranges (naranias), lemons (limones), 
> limes (limas), and citrons (toronias) grown in al-Andalus and hence 
> SCA-period Spain, but pummelos, too! as "azamboos", from the Arabic zanbu. 
> Not sure how they were being used, though...
>
> Next question: Has anyone substituted limes in SCA-period recipes calling 
> for lemons? If so, what has been successful?
>
> I love limeade... maybe next time i make sharbat bi-laimun, i'll use limes 
> instead of lemons. BTW the Berkeley Bowl has a citrus that looks like a 
> lemon but isn't sour - IIRC, they're called Palestine limes... or 
> lemons... i'm now confused :-)
> -- 
> Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)




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