[Sca-cooks] citrus was Panforte

[Johnna Holloway]

I did my last revision of my book (nearly 300 pages) on Oranges and  
Citrus Fruits in 2005. Citron is thought to be the original citrus  
fruit. From it come all the others. There's a date that floats around  
of 2200 BCE for domestication in Southeast Asia.  "One problem that  
occurs with Oranges and other Citrus fruits is that they are  
genetically unstable and odd mutants arise at times without warning.  
They are generally cultivated now as they were centuries ago by slips  
that are placed or grafted onto rootstocks of the same or another  
variety." (Holloway, 2005)

The citrus fruits have hundreds of varieties that we never commonly  
see. They also can be crossed and recrossed, hence all these new small  
varieties that are in the produce departments now. Also the USDA  
prevents the importation of a number of varieties due to quarantines  
for diseases and insects.

Those Buddha's hands date back to at least the 4th century CE.

Johnnae

On Jan 31, 2011, at 3:46 PM, yaini0625 at yahoo.com wrote:

> Thank you for solving a mystery. I saw the Buddha's Fingers at the  
> local Whole Foods. I was wondering what they were used for. They are  
> that old?
> Aelina
>
> Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Johnna
> Citron is citron. They look like rather large lemons these days or at
> least the ones I have seen in the US anyway. (The fingered variety are
> called Buddha's hands or fingers.) The bigger (really big) greenish
> citrus fruits tend to be pomelos or pummelos.
>
> http://www.bristol.ac.uk/centenary/look/cabinet/citron.html
> http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/sca-cooks-ansteorra.org