Citron

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iCitron
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae   Division: Magnoliophyta   Class: Magnoliopsida   Order: Sapindales   Family: Rutaceae   Genus: Citrus   Species: C. medica
Binomial name
Citrus medica L.

The Citron (Citrus medica) is a species of citrus fruit. It is characterized by its thick rind and small sections. Generally, it is eaten preserved or in bakery goods, such as fruitcakes. (The candied peel rather than the fruit is often used in cooking.) The citron is mostly grown near the Mediterranean and in Central and South America.

The citron goes by many names in different countries; one popular reference is cedrat, which is the french name for the fruit. Theophrastus referred to the citron as the Persian or Median Apple, and the fruit later came to be known as the Citrus Apple. Pliny's Natural History gives an account of the tree (HN xii.7) that some called the Assyrian, others the Median "apple" (the generic Greco-Roman name for globose fruits).

The citron was the first of the citrus fruits known to the Romans. In Pliny's time the fruit was never eaten (it began to be used in cooking by the early 2nd century), but its intense perfume was used, penetrating clothes to repel noxious insects (compare Citronella). According to Pliny, attempts to grow the Citron in pots for its medicinal properties were unsuccessful. This is possibly due to the fact that pure strains of citrons have trees producing less than 10 fruits a tree ^{[verification needed]}.

The citron is known as the etrog (Hebrew: אֶתְרֹג) by religious Jews, who wave it ritually as one of the Four Species during the holiday of Sukkot each fall. Citrons that have been bred with lemon (in order to increase output per tree and make the tree less fragile) are not kosher for use as part of the Four Species. This is a big problem for religious Jews, and great effort is spent certifying that the Citron has never been bred or grafted with a lemon.

The citron fruit is a slow-growing fruit. The citron tree is typically grown from cuttings that are two to four years old; the tree begins to bear fruit when it is around three years old.The fruit is oblong in shape, and sometimes as much as six inches in length. Its skin is thick, somewhat hard, fragrant, and covered with protuberances; the pulp is white and subacid. (This paragraph is from the etrog article.)

In many languages other than English, a normal lemon is called a "citron" and a lime is called a "limon".

Although the East Asian citrus fruit yuzu (also called yuja) is sometimes called a citron, it is actually a separate species, Citrus junos.

See also

• Buddha's hand, a type of citron