Odd Things

Lemons

The lemon is a fruit that comes from a tree native to Asia.  The yellow fruit is used for culinary and non-culinary purposes throughout the world, primarily for its juice which has both culinary and cleaning uses. The pulp and juice are also used in cooking and baking. The juice of the lemon is about 5% to 6% citric acid, with a pH of around 2.2, giving it a sour taste. 

The origin of the lemon is unknown, though lemons are thought to have first grown in Assam (a region in northeast India), northern Myanmar or China. A genomic study of the lemon indicated it was a hybrid between bitter orange (sour orange) and citron. Lemons are supposed to have entered Europe near southern Italy no later than the second century AD, during the time of Ancient Rome although this has been contested. Evidence for this is inconclusive and modern theories ascribe the introduction of the lemon throughout the Mediterranean area to around 100 AD. Around 400 AD they were planted in orchards in Moorish Spain. They were later introduced to Persia and then to Iraq and Egypt around 700 AD. The lemon was first recorded in literature in a 10th-century Arabic treatise on farming, and was also used as an ornamental plant in early Islamic gardens. It was distributed widely throughout the Arab world and the Mediterranean region between 1000 and 1150. An article on Lemon and lime tree cultivation in Andalusia of Spain is brought down in Ibn al-'Awwam's 12th-century agricultural work, Book on Agriculture. The first substantial cultivation of lemons in Europe began in Genoa in the middle of the 15th century. The lemon was later introduced to the Americas in 1493 when Christopher Columbus brought lemon seeds to Hispaniola on his voyages. Spanish conquest throughout the New World helped spread lemon seeds. It was mainly used as an ornamental plant and for medicine. In the 19th century, lemons were increasingly planted in Florida and California. In 1747, James Lind's experiments on seamen suffering from scurvy involved adding lemon juice to their diets, though vitamin C was not yet known as an important dietary ingredient. The origin of the word lemon may be Middle Eastern. The word draws from the Old French limon, then Italian limone, from the Arabic laymūn or līmūn, and from the Persian līmūn, a generic term for citrus fruit, which is a cognate of Sanskrit (nimbū, 'lime').

The 'Bonnie Brae' is oblong, smooth, thin-skinned and seedless. These are mostly grown in San Diego County, USA. The 'Eureka' grows year-round and abundantly. This is the common supermarket lemon, also known as 'Four Seasons' (Quatre Saisons) because of its ability to produce fruit and flowers together throughout the year. This variety is also available as a plant to domestic customers. There is also a pink-fleshed Eureka lemon, with a green and yellow variegated outer skin. The Lisbon lemon is very similar to the Eureka and is the other common supermarket lemon. It is smoother than the Eureka, has thinner skin, and has fewer or no seeds. It generally produces more juice than the Eureka. The 'Femminello St. Teresa', or 'Sorrento' originates in Italy. This fruit's zest is high in lemon oils. It is the variety traditionally used in the making of limoncello. The 'Yen Ben' is an Australasian cultivar.

A Lemon can also be a Fan-Fic with explicit sexual content. This can range from plot-what-plot screwfests with no justification, to exquisitely plotted and crafted stories that just happen to follow their participants into the bedroom (and through the subsequent action therein) on a regular basis. It can be used as a noun and an adjective interchangeably: "It's a Lemon story" and "It's a Lemon" are functionally equivalent. Those fond of Lemons refer to it as 'Lemony Goodness'. Surprisingly, the term is not automatically synonymous with "bad", or even "vulgar". It's also subjective. Some people believe that it has only to be penetrative to be a Lemon, some believe that it has to be explicitly penetrative, while others believe that if it goes into enough arousing detail, even reaching second base can be a Lemon. Somebody venturing into sex scenes for the first time may see quite a few Fan-Fics as lemons, while a more experienced reader may consider them a Lime.