When life gives you lemons
Italian lemons are insanely delicious and celebrated daily in my house.
One of my favorite images of citrus in Italy is by Bartolomeo Bambi. In the 1700s, he was hired by Cosimo de Medici and then Anna Maria de Medici to catalog the marvels of nature. I am fascinated by his paintings. You can visit the Museum of the Still-Life paintings he made in the Villa at Poggio Caiano.
Tuscany has a long history with citrus. In nice weather, lemon plants are placed in clay pots around the Renaissance gardens. The weather can get cold in the winter, so the plants are moved indoors to the limonaia, where they can avoid the cold.
The Medici family had a large citrus garden in their villa in Castello, outside of Florence.
Today, there are several places where you can still buy a vast assortment of citrus.
Citrus in Cooking
In Italy, citrus is the flavoring we use in desserts instead of vanilla. Fresh zest and juice are often added to cake batters, cookies, and sweet cheese desserts using ricotta or mascarpone.
Lemons are served alongside many foods, from steak to fish, roasted, fried, or grilled.
You won’t find food covered in sauces; instead, it's simply grilled, seasoned with salt, and served with lemon wedges. When you order a side of spinach or chard, you choose how you want it served; all’agro is with lemon.
Not all lemons are alike. When adding lemon juice to a recipe, taste first. Some lemons are bland, and you need to add more, but if they are flavor-packed, you may want to add the lemon juice slowly rather than too much.
I always save my lemon zest in a ziplock bag in my freezer. I use a potato peeler to remove just the yellow part. You can also make lemon salt or lemon sugar.
In Sicily, lemon granita is served all day, even for breakfast. In the morning, it’s served with a brioche bun, and the bread is dipped into the granita.
I always stop at a Chiosco in Catania for a Selz, Limone e Sale. There is nothing more refreshing in the Sicilian summer heat than this drink. They pour in seltzer water, salt, and lemon. They stir to dissolve the salt and top it with a little more seltzer.
At the temples at Selinunte, there is a granita stand where he sells an iced tea with lemon granita instead of ice.
The Amalfi Coast is famous for its lemons. I try to buy lemons from Sorrento or Sicily, which I can often find in my grocery store or at a weekly market.
They tend to be larger and have an intense flavor.
Citron is an interesting citrus, looking like a lemon on steroids, with a thick edible rind.
They can be sliced and sprinkled with sugar and then eaten as dessert or simply dressed with olive oil and salt as a salad. I prefer them as dessert; it’s like edible lemonade.
I am including a few recipes for my paid subscribers: my illustrated limoncello PDF and a pasta dish I learned from a Michelin-starred chef outside of Sorrento.
I am also including a few lemon “destinations”.