WineLovers Discussion Group

I have a dwarf Meyer lemon tree growing in a wine barrel on my deck. It's doing pretty well for its three or so years. At them moment, the lemons are green and about the size of garbanzo beans. Of course, these little guys fall off or, and this is more likely, my daughter's cats use the barrel as a springboard up to the bird feeders in unsuccessful attempts to dine on the Lesser Goldfinches who visit us and knock them off. In any event, I cracked open some of these miniscule fruits and then tasted them. I was pleasantly surprised at how tender they were and just what a wonderful concentrated citrus flavor they treated me with. I was expecting a bitter taste, but it didn't happen.

I can imagine they could be used crushed in recipes wherever lemon zest is called for or even halved in beverages. I was wondering whether this was indeed a practice anywhere.

Gary,

I'm unaware of immature citrus fruit being used for anything--meyer lemons are probably one of the few citrus that aren't horrible before full ripeness sets in. Most citrus don't develop either any sweetness or appreciable moisture content until the latter stages of development--immature fruit is bitter and dry.

Or so I've found from picking citrus too green.

Interesting that you decided to taste the little guys, though. You must have been one of those dangerous babies around whom anything left out ended up in your mouth.

Jenise wrote:Interesting that you decided to taste the little guys, though. You must have been one of those dangerous babies around whom anything left out ended up in your mouth.

Jenise, I probably could have been the poster child for those Pica commercials they ran when I was kid ... although I never really developed a taste for lead-based paints.

Gee, I mean if that inquisitive grape grower in ancient wherever hadn't chowed down on a grape leaf millenia ago, we wouldn't have dolma, would we?

Well, I'm nibbling on one right now and it's quite refreshing. Of course, I did not have that same refreshing experience when I tried that with an olive right off the tree. Live and learn ...