Daemmon Reeve, Treatt plc

Abstract: The lemon's origins, production and processing

Known as golden apples centuries ago, lemons were once regarded as luxuries, traded for precious items in marketplaces around the world. Today, with over 3 million tonnes produced each year — the equivalent of approximately 21,000 million individual lemons — this fruit is as popular as it has ever been. Though, considering the sheer volume of production, one is unlikely to gain much return from bartering with a lemon.

The origins of the lemon, Citrus limon, are as old as civilization itself, lost in the sands of China and the Middle East. Wherever its geographical origins lie, by the first and second centuries AD lemons were being cultivated in the Middle East and Greece. In the ruins of Pompeii there is a mosaic that depicts a lemon, and there is documentary evidence that by the second century AD Rome was importing lemons from North Africa. During subsequent centuries, the fruit spread throughout the Roman Empire, thriving in the warm climates of the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean, before reaching the Americas around 500 years ago. For the complete article, click on "Purchase this article."