Citron

“ This juice, as well as that of the citron and orange, is of considerable utility in medicine. Sir John Pringle highly praises its efficacy in the sea-scurvy; it is also frequently used for neutralizing alkaline salts in the preparation of saline draughts.—The yellow peel of lemons has a more concentrated aromatic flavour than that of the orange; and, like that of the citron, is often candied, and sold under the name of sweet-meat. The dried peel is a good stomachic, promotes the appetite, and imparts warmth to the whole frame ”

“ One pound sterling is a common sum, and not infrequently as much as seventy shillings are given for a single "Citron of Law." The fruit is used at the Feast of Tabernacles according to a command given in the Book of the Law; it is not of an edible nature, but is handed round and smelt by the worshippers as they go out, when they "thank God for all good things, and for the sweet odours He has given to men." This citron is considered to be almost miraculously restorative, especially by those who regard it as the "tappnach," intended in the text, "Comfort me with apples." ”

“ The pulp is sub-acid and edible, and the seeds are bitter. There are many varieties of the fruit, some of them of great weight and size. The Madras citron has the form of an oblate sphere; and in the “fingered citron” of China the lobes are separated into finger-like divisions formed by separation of the constituent carpels, as occurs sometimes in the orange.
The citron-tree thrives in the open air in China, Persia, the West Indies, Madeira, Sicily, Corsica, and the warmer parts of Spain and Italy; and in conservatories it is often to be seen in more northerly regions. ”

“ When filtered it is known as Essence de citron au zeste, or, in the English market, as perfumers’ essence of lemon, inferior qualities being distinguished as druggists’ essence of lemon. An additional product is obtained by immersing the scarified lemons in warm water and separating the oil which floats off. Essence de citron distillée is obtained by rubbing the surface of fresh lemons 415 (or of those which have been submitted to the action of the écuelle à piquer) on a coarse grater of tinned iron, and distilling the grated peel. ”

“ The flowers are large and white, but purplish on the outside of the petals.
It is generally supposed that the citron-tree was first introduced from Assyria and Media into Greece, and thence into the Southern parts of Europe, where it is now cultivated to considerable extent. It is also grown in the islands of the West Indies. The fruit, partaking of the same quality as the lemon, with the exception of being somewhat less acid, is seldom eaten raw; but, preserved in sugar as a sweetmeat, it is much used by confectioners and others. ”

“ The citron-trees, which are planted against the garden walls, are now, one after another, covered with reeds; but the oranges are allowed to stand quite open. Many hundreds of the finest fruits may be seen hanging on a single treee; which is not, as with us, dwarfed, and planted in a bucket, but stands in the earth, free and joyous, amidst a long line of brothers. ”

“ The citron is oblong, with a very thick rind; the lemon is oblong with a small lump or protuberance at the end; and the lime has no protuberance, has a very thin rind, and is about the size of a small egg. These are the principal marks of discrimination betwixt these fruits, but they are not quite constant.
The lemon shrub (Fig. 56) has large and slightly indented shining leaves, of somewhat oval shape, but pointed; and on the footstalks of the leaves there is no remarkable appendage. The flowers are large and white, but purplish on the outside of the petals. ”

“ Orange-peel, lemon-peel, citron-peel—these are the explanation: the last-mentioned fruit—imported from Sicily, Madeira, and the Canary Islands—being hardly distinguishable from a lemon except by its somewhat less acid pulp and more pungent rind. Even a very careless observer can hardly fail to be struck at this season by the heaps of those candied rinds displayed in the grocers' windows ”

“ Of late years many of them77 have taken to growing citrons, which, in a good year, yield them a considerable profit; but owing to frosts that often come at inconvenient times and destroy the fruit, citron-growing is rather a risky occupation. ”

“ Put a quart of cream into a stew-pan, with one ounce of isinglass, a stick of cinnamon, two laurel leaves, and a little lemon peel; sweeten it to your taste with fine sugar, boil it gently till the isinglass is dissolved, then strain it off; put it into a deep china dish, or small basons; cut some greater citron in very thin small slices, wash it in rose water to raise the green colour, and when your cream is nearly cold, put in the citron, so that it may fall into the middle, and be covered with the cream at top, but not fall to the bottom; when cold, serve it up to table. ”

“ Sift three quarters of a pound of flour, and slice half a pound of citron. Mix together the almond and citron, on a flat dish, and sprinkle among them flour from the dredging-box, till they are white all over. Beat six eggs as light as possible, till they are very thick and smooth. Then mix them gradually with the sugar, almond, and citron, stirring very hard. Lastly, stir in, by degrees, the sifted flour. Butter a tin pan or pans, and put in the mixture about an inch deep. Bake it; and when cool, cut it into narrow slices about an inch wide, and five inches long. ”

“ For example, they evaporate the purified juice of citrons in a water bath with a slow fire, till it becomes of nearly the consistence of honey, melting, in the mean time, some finely powdered loaf sugar in a silver dish, and continually stirring it with a flat wooden spoon; when the sugar is very dry, they sprinkle over it, a little at a time, the prepared juice of citron; continuing to stir it till the whole has sufficient moisture to form a paste, [348] which they make into lozenges, and keep in a dry, and rather warm situation ”

“ Boil the sugar and water together, skim, then put into the syrup citron and lemon. Boil until it looks rich and transparent. Skim out the fruit into jars or tumblers, boil down the syrup for ten or fifteen minutes, and pour over the fruit. If jars are used, fill to the brim and seal while hot. ”

“ The explanation of the mystery about lime-juice (which a hundred years ago was used with absolute success to prevent scurvy, and in 1875 was a dead failure) is shown by the workers at the Lister Institute to be this—namely, "lime" and "lemon" are in origin the same word, and have become applied in ways unrecognized by the Admiralty and their medical advisers in various parts of the world to which the citron, the lemon, the sweet-lime and the sour-lime—all varieties of one species, Citrus medica of Linnæus—have been carried from their original home of origin, the south-east of Asia. ”

“ Where th’ apples are of gold.
A. There are but three.
B. The beautiful is no where plentiful. [677] Athenæus, after quoting the testimony of poets, relates a curious anecdote à propos of citrons, which I shall here repeat: it has, probably, some reference to the secret of the Psylli. An opinion, it seems, prevailed in Egypt, that a citron eaten the first thing in the morning was an antidote against all kinds of poison, whether taken into the stomach, or introduced by puncture into the blood, and the notion arose out of the following circumstance. ”

“ Cit′rine, dark and greenish yellow, like a citron or lemon.—n. citrine colour: a rock crystal of this colour.—ns. Cit′ron-wood, Cit′rus-wood, the most costly furniture-wood of the ancient Romans.—Citric acid, the acid to which lemon and lime juice owe their sourness. ”

“ The white inner rind varies much in thickness in different kinds, but is never so thick as in the citron. As lemons are much more profitable to grow than oranges, on account of their keeping properties, and from their being less liable to injury during voyages, the cultivation of the lemon is preferred in Italy wherever it will succeed. ”

“ LEMON, the fruit of Citrus Limonum, which is regarded by some botanists as a variety of Citrus medica. The wild stock of the lemon tree is said to be a native of the valleys of Kumaon and Sikkim in the North-West provinces of India, ascending to a height of 4000 ft., and occurring under several forms. Sir George Watt (Dictionary of Economic Products of India, ii. 352) regards the wild plants as wild forms of the lime or citron and considers it highly probable that the wild form of the lemon has not yet been discovered. ”

“ Ours is the natural country of the lime, lemon and citron; children of a common stock. We have several varieties of the lime. The trees are of rapid growth, constant bearers, very prolific, subject to no disease, and very tenacious of life. The fruit is large, “How large?” as a Sicily lemon. I consider the lime as profitable as the orange, and more so, with us. It should be cultivated for citric acid, of which it yields more than any other fruit. The time will come when our part of Florida will supply citric acid to the world. A peck of limes will yield a gallon of juice ”

“ The citron tree, called the Assyrian, and by some the Median apple, is an antidote against poisons.439 The leaf is similar to that of the arbute, except that it has small prickles440 running across it. As to the fruit, it is never eaten,441 but it is remarkable for its extremely powerful smell, which is the case, also, with the leaves; indeed, the odour is so strong, that it will penetrate clothes, when they are once impregnated with it, and hence it is very useful in repelling the attacks of noxious insects. The tree bears fruit at all seasons of the year ”

“ Of the citron, the outer part is acrid and indigestible, but that part which is as it were its flesh, is nutritious, and yet it is hard to digest. The inner part, whether acid or watery, is moderately cooling. Acorns are nutritious, no less so than corn, but of difficult digestion, contain thick juices, and are slowly evacuated. Chesnuts are in every respect superior to them. ”

“ The same process applied to watermelon rind after it is freshened makes citron.
Brandy Peaches and Pears: These can be made without cooking. Choose ripe, perfect fruit, pare, stick three cloves in each, weigh, take pound for pound of sugar with one over for the jar. Pack down in a large jar, putting spices between, and filling sugar into every crevice. Crowd in every bit possible, then pour on enough whiskey to stand an inch above the fruit. Let stand—in twenty-four hours more whiskey will be needed. ”

“ But if any one boils a whole citron with its seed in Attic honey, it is dissolved in the honey, and he who takes two or three mouthfuls of it early in the morning will never experience any evil effects from poison. ”

“ One day of a young gazelle that he should praise Our garden and oranges we did require.
Quoth he, ‘Your garden to me is as my face, And whoso gathers its oranges gathers fire.’
And citrons, in colour as virgin gold, dropping from on high and dangling among the branches, as they were ingots of vegetable gold, as saith thereof the poet El Welhan:
Hast thou not seen a fruited wood of citrons, laden all So heavily that, when they bend, one feareth lest they fall? ”

“ The citrate of lime obtained from juice so treated is comparatively pure.
Good lemon juice yields about 61⁄2% of crystallised lemon acid; 2 galls. yield fully 1 lb. of crystals. See Lemon juice, Lime juice. &c.
CIT′RON. The fruit of the citron tree (Citrus medica) is acidulous, antiseptic, and antiscorbutic; it excites the appetite, and stops vomiting; and, like lemon juice, has been greatly extolled in chronic rheumatism,474 gout, and scurvy. Mixed with cordials, it is used as an antidote to the manchineel poison. ”

“ Gallesio 'Teoria della Riproduzione' pages 75, 76.) (for their hybrid nature was not ascertained) , between an orange and either a lemon or citron, produced on the same tree leaves, flowers, and fruit of both pure parent-forms, as well as of a mixed or crossed nature. A bud taken from any one of the branches and grafted on another tree produces either one of the pure kinds or a capricious tree reproducing the three kinds. Whether the sweet lemon, which includes within the same fruit segments of differently flavoured pulp (10/20. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1841 page 613.) ”

“ If they are not destined for you, you will not be able to pluck them no matter what you do. As you return, if you are hungry or thirsty, cut open one of the citrons and you will have food and drink in plenty. ”

“ And those that are fat, are not so easily seized on by them, in regard the Acrimony of the Serosities is corrected by the mixture of the Fat, just as the sharpest Lixivium will lose its force, if Oyl be mingled therewith.
Some Hortulan Communications about the curious engrafting of Oranges and Lemons, or Citrons, upon one anothers Trees, and of one Individual Fruit, half Orange and half Lemon growing on such Trees, &c. 1. We have here Orange-trees, (saith the Intelligence from Florence) that bear a fruit, which is Citron on one side, and Orange on the other. ”

“ Oranges are large and very juicy, we thought them good, doubtless better than any we had tasted at home, but probably Italy and Portugal produce as good had we been there in the time of their being in perfection. Lemons and limes are like ours, Sweet Lemons are sweetish and without flavour, Citrons have a sickly faint taste otherwise are like them. ”