The Crazy History of Lemons

[Music] when life gives you lemons you make lemonade but how exactly did life give us lemons they haven't always been available and even when they were they weren't always easy to acquire a 25 cent glass of lemonade from a stand would probably shock a roman aristocrat for example who probably viewed them as an exotic rarity moreover the lemons used in that drink could have had even more value to a 17th century parisian fearing the plague or a sailor from the 18th century it could very well have saved their lives ladies and gentlemen hello and welcome to fire of learning's food history series a series in which we discuss the surprising and amazing stories behind the foods we eat every day thank you for joining us in this episode as we discuss the history of lemons where did lemons come from in the first place well before we can look at that it should be mentioned the taxonomy or a system of classification of citrus fruit in general is slightly more complicated than most of what we've discussed so far in this series limes oranges and lemons are not different cultivars of the same species they are not purely separate species either they are each themselves hybrids of different species of citrus as far as lemons go citrus lyman the two parent species are the citroen citrus medica and the bitter orange citrus oranium the latter itself being a hybrid of the pomelo and mandarin orange as a result there is much confusion surrounding the origins of lemons and many other types of citrus however it is known that the cultivation of citrus trees in general began in southeast asia roughly in this region perhaps around 4 000 years ago centuries before lemons one of its parent species the citroen has spread all the way to the mediterranean their remains have been found in gardens from ancient persia dating to as far back as the 5th century bc there is some evidence that citroens arrived before this but it is not very reliable however their domestication probably started in india a century or so later they were encountered by the greeks the first clear written reference in history seems to be from the greek botanist theophrastus who mentioned them around the year 310 bc shortly after the age of alexander who had invaded persia and exposed the greeks to many eastern curiosities citrons still exist today though they're not as popular they have a weak taste and are mostly rind compared to many of the popular types of citrus of today this latter trait is undesirable while eating but probably helped to preserve them as they spread merchants spread them throughout the mediterranean allowing them to be enjoyed by the other societies which would arise here like the romans citroens are again a parent of lemons but not quite lemons it was in southeast asia possibly in the region of assam in northeastern india that lemons themselves first arose when exactly the lemon arose and when it began to spread is a mystery lemon seeds and especially fruit do not preserve well and there are virtually no ancient written records on lemons themselves nevertheless there is evidence dating to around the 1st century bc and 1st century a.d of lemons in the roman empire these include things like possible artistic depictions of lemons as well as archaeobotanical remains like seeds and fossilized pollen pollen is especially useful because it demonstrates that a plant was growing in an area and was not just an imported product though there is again no known roman writing pertaining to lemons israeli researcher daphne lane gut has argued that this in itself combined with the circumstances in which the evidence we do have has been found would suggest they were rare in roman society probably considered exotic and probably exclusive to the elites clearer evidence of lemons including the first time they are mentioned in writing does not appear for another thousand years when they reappear in the islamic world the first written reference to lemons comes from the arab scholar kustus al-rumi in the 10th century in his book on farming the medieval islamic world stretched from modern day spain all the way to modern day india lemons were distributed across this range evolving from rare elite luxuries into ubiquitous cash crops they were grown alongside other citrus that farmers and merchants of this region were spreading like bitter oranges and limes which are often confused with each other in historical records the arabs and persians called it li moon which probably was derived from the malay word le ma this led to our english word lemon and lime like today probably not many people were biting straight into lemons rather they were often used as a flavoring combined with other foods and drinks there was a drink popular in places like egypt in this time called katara mizzat made of lemon juice and sugar the first known lemonade not only were lemons used as food but they were also believed to have various medicinal properties the flowering trees were also grown ornamentally and the peels were used for their fragrance lemons seemed to have reached china during the same era texts from christians traveling to the east and the crusades revealed that most northern europeans weren't very familiar with the lemons they were encountering in the east in this time indeed their spread into northern europe would have been stunted by the cold weather that this tropical evergreen tree does not tolerate well though not so popular in northern europe yet they had reached and were reaching many parts of southern europe because of their presence in islamic iberia the spanish and portuguese were already very familiar with lemons when their nations were forming during and after the rei conquista it seems spanish and portuguese explorers began spreading lemons around the world right away as they planted them in the lands to which they traveled columbus himself planted lemon trees in the caribbean in 1493 the spanish would also introduce lemons to florida california and much of latin america likewise the portuguese would introduce them to brazil which would become a major supplier of citrus and probably the areas of sub-saharan africa that the arabs had not reached lemons would also be popular in italy partly owed to former arab rule over sicily which was now ruled by the spanish in the 17th century lemons became more popular in countries like england france and even colonial america as things like increased production and trade lowered prices the upper classes in northern europe would construct structures called orangeries greenhouses intended to keep orange lemon and other plants of warmer climates from freezing in winter many european monarchs like louis xiv and even american presidents like george washington are recorded to have grown lemons in their orangeries on a related note it is also said that the ladies in the court of louis xiv would use lemon juice to redden their lips in many large european cities like paris and rome there was a kind of lemon craze by 1676 a french company called the company de lemonadiere was creating a kind of lemonade made with honey and alcohol they employed vendors called limonadier or lemonaders to carry tanks of the drink on their backs to sell to parisian customers many parisian cafes also sold lemonade unbeknownst to these parisians lemons may have actually saved some of their lives tom nelen author of the book food fights and culture wars has argued that lemons inadvertently lessened the impact of mid-17th century outbreaks of plague in paris the chemical limonene contained in the abundance of lemon peels that were being discarded into paris's sewers and trash may have actually killed plague spreading fleas if true this would not have been the last time lemons saved lives while many of the medicinal properties attributed to lemons throughout their history were not exactly real some of them actually were throughout history people especially sailors and especially those who voyage to distant lands were plagued by a mysterious disease called scurvy today we know that scurvy is a disease which results from a lack of vitamin c symptoms which could include pain throughout the body swelling tooth loss exhaustion and poor wound healing tend to set in after about a month of vitamin c deprivation eventually the disease becomes quite gruesome and leads to death as early as the late 15th century sailors like vasco de gama knew that scurvy could be cured by the consumption of certain fruits and vegetables specifically oranges and lemons accordingly sailors would plant things like citrus trees in areas they expected to frequent however knowledge was limited and difficult to retain and spread furthermore even in instances in which the solution was known it was difficult to keep foods high in vitamin c on board ships for long durations vitamin c is actually fairly common in foods but it is easily denatured by light heat and air reducing its presence in foods that have been stored for long durations or sometimes cooked the cure for the more may have been kept secret in some cases as well as a result between the years 1500 and 1800 an estimated 2 million european sailors died from scurvy more than from battle and shipwrecks combined in 1747 in what is often regarded as one of the first controlled clinical experiments in history british naval surgeon james lind proved what was sporadically and vaguely known that citrus fruit is highly effective in treating scurvy however even then this knowledge was not effectively utilized nothing was known about vitamin c itself and doing things like heating lemon juice caused the vitamin c in it to denature the causes and treatment of scurvy remained debated as a result and it continued to plague many vessels it wasn't until 1795 that citrus was widely recognized as a cure for scurvy it was in that year that three ships sailing under the british commodore peter raniere well stocked with lemonade made it to india on back without a single case of scurvy british naval officials immediately began clamoring to have lemon juice on their ships within a few years lemon juice obtained from places like sicily became a standard ration on all british ships lemon juice was often preserved by being mixed with rum eventually other citrus especially limes imported from british caribbean territories began to replace lemons because of industrial technology fewer and fewer people were spending months at a time at sea without fresh food as a result the british navy did not notice how much worse limes are at deterring scurvy because the disease was in decline anyway lemon's status says the best cure for scurvy in britain was forgotten again and debate and ignorance surrounding scurvy lasted until the early 20th century as is seen in circumstances like the gallipoli campaign in the 1760s the british scientist joseph priestley discovered a way to artificially carbonate water carbonated lemonade a predecessor of modern soft drinks was being consumed in britain by the 1830s the american lemon industry was inherited from the spanish in the areas that would become the states of florida and california although it would take time for them to be grown on a large scale this occurred in the late 19th century to compete with european exports from places like sicily although freezes in places like florida would stunt the industry for decades the women's temperance movement worked to popularize lemonade as an alternative to alcohol in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the lemonade stand as a neighborhood enterprise operated by children is a common sight during summer in the united states vendors have been selling lemonade from stands for centuries so it's difficult to know when it first started to become a distinct stereotypical activity of young entrepreneurs the first known person to sell lemonade in his childhood however was the dutch american author edward bulk in the 1870s who sold it to travelers passing by his home on their way to coney island it seems to have become a common activity by at least the 1940s as an interesting side fact there are different types of lemonade and terms for each of them the standard mix of lemon juice and sugar often with water is called cloudy lemonade carbonated lemonade is clear lemonade pink lemonade first mentioned in west virginia in 1879 is just lemonade mixed with some kind of artificial or natural coloring like fruit juice even though pink lemons exist their juice is clear there are a number of amusing myths describing the creation of pink lemonade but though the truth of its origins are uncertain it seems it was the circuses of the era that popularized it brown lemonade is lemonade made with brown sugar the suffix aid in lemonade simply refers to the fact that it is not pure lemon juice today over 21 million tons of lemons are produced worldwide each year the top three producers being india mexico and china who produce almost half the world's lemons on their own and there we have it the lemon the sour fruit that has made life just a little bit more sweet i hope you enjoyed this video if so i invite you to come check out the rest of fire learning especially the other videos of the food history series and to subscribe to see more videos like this in the future to support the channel you may make a donation through patreon linked which is in the description a special thanks to my current patrons listed here for their support i also have a science channel called lusinux which i have actually just uploaded a video so come check that out too thank you for watching [Music]

Channel: Fire of Learning

Views: 132,392

Keywords: Citrus, Oranges, Limes, Limon, Citron

Id: TRqDrDo2DG4

Length: 15min 20sec (920 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 13 2022