The Land Where Lemons Grow: The Story of Italy and its Citrus Fruit

Product Information

Again and again, for those of us who don’t yet know the land where the lemon trees bloom, Helena Attlee makes it wonderfully clear that mandarins, marmalade, Eau de Cologne and Earl Grey Tea are no substitute for the real thing. Last October, on the first day of Sukkot, when I opened the white etrog box I'd bought in Berlin from a Chabad rabbi, the citron inside was still perfect. After three months, it hadn't lost any of its marvellous scent. By autumn, the Calabrian farmers are already preparing for the next season, but, Adduci said, "we feel incredibly proud to know that our fruits have reached the homes of hundreds of families around the world." Lccn 2015304966 Ocr tesseract 5.1.0-1-ge935 Ocr_detected_lang en Ocr_detected_lang_conf 1.0000 Ocr_detected_script Latin Ocr_detected_script_conf 0.9917 Ocr_module_version 0.0.16 Ocr_parameters -l eng Old_pallet IA-WL-0000218 Openlibrary_edition She is very passionate about lemons, culture and history. She is well researched which shows in her writing but she suffers from what I call the "science syndrome" in writing. She's a researcher first then a writer. There for the research becomes much more important than the story. She flatly gives you the story like a boring lecturer instead of showing you the story. Cada tanto se mechan algunas recetas –un poco llamativas en algunos casos, como el pastel de tortuga, summum culinario de los banquetes italianos del siglo XVI– que resultan igualmente interesantes y, por qué no, un desafío para quien se anime a investigar un poco los ingredientes y prepararlas.

Although there are no Jewish communities left in Calabria today, Italy's Jewish world is proud of this cultural connection," said Disegni. These towns' Jewish past, just like citron, runs deep through the cultural identity of north-western Calabria. The Land Where Lemons Grow uses the colourful past of six different kinds of Italian citrus to tell an unexpected history of Italy, from the arrival of citrons in 2nd century Calabria, through Arab domination of Sicily in the 9th century, to slow food and cutting-edge genetic research in the 21st. Along the way Helena Attlee traces the uses of citrus essential oils in the perfume industry and describes the extraction of precious bergamot oil; the history of marmalade and its production in Sicily; the extraordinary harvest of 'Diamante' citrons by Jewish citron merchants in Calabria; the primitive violence of the Battle of Oranges, when the streets in Ivrea run with juice. She reveals the earliest manifestations of the Mafia among the lemon gardens outside Palermo, and traces the ongoing links between organised crime and the citrus industry. Helena Attlee's writing in The Land Where Lemons Grow is so sharp and evocative that she could have been writing about potatoes in Plymouth: She'd still have had me gripped. Ms. Attlee has that rare gift of being able to know an inordinate amount about a subject and yet wear her knowledge so lightly that the tone is anecdotal, not academic. It's a big thing, to pull off such lightness. Through the citrus groves and scented gardens of Italy, she weaves in and out of history and horticulture, fusing them together with stories and surprises, romance and recipes, tastings and travelogues. I loved it Yotam Ottolenghi Today the Riviera dei Cedri continues to live up to its name, with many small businesses offering the fruit in creative ways. Visitors to the region can even go on citron tours called La Via del Cedro, which include visits to the orchards, nature walks, tastings and strolls around the ancient Jewish quarters. Although admittedly the first few chapters of the book were a bit slow going the deeper you read the more fascinating and mouthwatering the stories. I encourage you to read to the end and visit your local farmers market or grocery store to investigate what varieties of citrus are available to you. Maybe also consider making a blood orange granita, limoncello, or marmalade while you’re at it!stars. Attlee, who knows and loves Italy and the Italians, takes the reader through the country's scented gardens with her sharp descriptions, pertinent stories and quotes and intriguing recipes. I was there with her' Anna del Conte, Sunday Telegraph CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly named Menachem Mendel Schneerson as the founder of the Chabad movement. This has now been updated. Summer has been a special time for as long as I can remember, as that's when the rabbis come to visit," said Angelo Adduci, who grew up in a family of citron farmers in Santa Maria del Cedro. "These visits are familiar memories not just for me, but for everyone in town, and Rabbi Lazar is like an uncle to me. It's a part of our childhood, and a happy one." Blood oranges get their color from anthocyanins, which can only develop where there is a difference of at least 18 degrees F between daytime and nighttime temperatures in fall and winter If criminal control in Sicily makes the scent of orange and lemon blossom begin to smell, as one visitor to Palermo writes, ‘like corpses’ there is some comfort to be had in reading about the introduction of the mandarin, deriving from two seedlings brought from China to England and shared by Kew with a garden in Malta and thence to Sicily. The comfort is short-lived; the mandarin groves of the 20th century were used as cover for heroin refineries.

The book reads slowly like a fine wine, and is a mixture of history, travel, art, science, and horticulture, as we are transported all over Italy, meeting interesting personages of the past and present who share all sorts of little-known jewels of knowledge. The book is a history of citrus in Italy which interweaves all these aspects of life. En la última Feria del Libro, medio escondido entre pilas y estantes, me topé con un libro que, como suele pasar, me llamó la atención primero por su portada: una naturaleza muerta estilo barroco de limones y naranjas. Era una edición de Acantilado, una de mis favoritas, y el título prometía: El país donde florece el limonero - La historia de Italia y sus cítricos. The cover is beautiful. I'm assuming it's of an Italian painting. I searched for the artwork credits but could not find any.

Discover

I was sent this as a first read copy. I really wanted to like this book and obviously someone who knows much more about books and writing, decided this book was worth publishing so this is just my little honest opinion. I have read National Geographics since I was a child. I have never meet a subject in which I couldn't become somewhat interested. The citron plant ( Citrus medica) arrived in this region around 2,000 years ago, following Jewish migrations. According to Helena Attlee, author of The Land Where Lemons Grow: The Story of Italy and Its Citrus Fruit, citron was the only citrus species to grow in Europe until oranges arrived 900 years later, brought across North Africa to Spain by the Moors. The Jews were expelled from Calabria (and all of southern Italy) in 1541, but their connection with Calabrian citron farmers lives on to this day and remains crucial to the fruit's survival. The bergamot contributes its essential oils not only to Earl Grey tea, but also to perfumes (including the original Eau de Cologne) and some disinfectants Every year at the close of Carnival season, the city of Ivrea hosts a Battle of the Oranges, in which the fruit is indeed used as a missile [footage available here] El libro es realmente una hermosura. Me resultó interesantísimo, muy ameno e instructivo. Es un auténtico viaje de los sentidos, en el que se combinan colores, aromas, y sabores con paisajes y personajes únicos.

Fascinating . . . A distinguished garden writer, Attlee fell under the spell of citrus over ten years ago and the book, like the eleventh labour of Hercules to steal the golden fruit of the Hesperides, is the result. She writes with great lucidity, charm and gentle humour, and wears her considerable learning lightly . . . Helena Attlee's elegant, absorbing prose and sure-footed ability to combine the academic with the anecdotal, make The Land Where Lemons Grow a welcome addition to the library of citrologists and Italophiles alike The Times Literary Supplement Fascinating . . . A distinguished garden writer, Attlee fell under the spell of citrus over ten years ago and the book, like the eleventh labour of Hercules to steal the golden fruit of the Hesperides, is the result. She writes with great lucidity, charm and gentle humour, and wears her considerable learning lightly . . . Helena Attlee's elegant, absorbing prose and sure-footed ability to combine the academic with the anecdotal, make The Land Where Lemons Grow a welcome addition to the library of citrologists and Italophiles alike' The Times Literary Supplement If citron growing seems like intensive work, the production of kosher citrons adds an extra layer of complexity. To be certified as kosher, or pure, the etrog needs to come from an ungrafted plant. Cultivating ungrafted plants means giving them lots of extra attention and time as they are more vulnerable to disease, but it also keeps the variety pure throughout generations because there's no genetic mixing with other plants, which scientists say may happen when plants are grafted. Truly fascinating . . . For many years, Attlee has been collecting evidence for a story of citrus trees in Italy. The result, The Land Where Lemons Grow, is remarkable, excellently produced and essential for all lovers of Italy, their summer libraries and out-of-season itineraries . . . Attlee's book is unmissable for anyone intrigued by the relation between humans' travel, greed and ingenuity and the spread of the plants that we eat, smell and drink Robin Lane Fox, Financial Times Italy is hands down one of my most favorite places in the world. As a pre-teen I had the fortune of visiting Italy for the first time and staying in a rustic farmhouse (rather a converted limonaia, or orangerie) in the heart of the Tuscan countryside. We were situated perfectly in a small village owned by a family that has been selling internationally renown Chianti wines for generations. I recall slow, summer afternoons relaxing by the pool that overlooked the green valleys below and enjoying the freshest local produce I had ever seen up till that point in my life.

Check-In

Este librito, escrito por Helena Attlee, una periodista británica experta en jardines italianos, está compuesto de varios ensayos en los que la autora explora las diferentes zonas de Italia donde se cultivan cítricos, y cuenta la historia, particularidades y curiosidades de cada una y del cítrico típico del lugar, ya sean limones, naranjas, quinotos, bergamotas, o alguna de sus peculiares variedades. Lemons originated in the Himalayan foothills; all oranges come from Assam or Burma (research suggests China may be another source) Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2022-06-25 13:08:12 Autocrop_version 0.0.14_books-20220331-0.2 Bookplateleaf 0010 Boxid IA40579921 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier The story of citrus runs through the history of Italy like a golden thread, and by combining travel writing with history, recipes, horticulture and art, Helena Attlee takes the reader on a unique and rich journey through Italy's cultural, moral, culinary and political past. I really enjoyed reading about the history of Italy through the lens of their love for and cultivation of citrus. I learned so much about citrus - that it's so much more than oranges and lemons and that citrus has so many uses beyond eating. And I learned so much about the history of Italy vis a vis their cultivation of these plants that originally came from the Himalayas.

Today, Adduci is president of the Calabrian citron farmers' union ( Consorzio del Cedro di Calabria), which promotes the fruit and connects it to the region's many natural attractions. The contrast of mountains and sea is one of the area's most distinctive features. urn:lcp:landwherelemonsg0000attl:epub:54c4be59-be5a-49b1-a0c2-95dd045e78f9 Foldoutcount 0 Identifier landwherelemonsg0000attl Identifier-ark ark:/13960/s25ts3v4kn9 Invoice 1652 Isbn 9781581572902Estas son solo un puñado de las muchas e interesantísimas historias que la autora presenta de forma muy sensorial y amena. Her account of this and other gatherings creates a sense of magic among the fruit trees. Also there is her study of bergamot, Citrus bergamia, a cross between a lemon tree and a sour orange grown on a narrow slice of the Tyrrhenian coast at the very edge of Calabria. Here the produce is the most valuable citrus fruit in the world. While the bergamot has important antiseptic and antibacterial properties, its great economic value lies in its essential oil, used as the fixing agent in the perfume industry. This book is all about how lemons (and other citrus) came to Italy and became part of the cuisine and landscape, and the hundreds-of-years history of citrus in Italy. The Medici and other wealthy people used to have huge citrus gardens as a hobby and developed many varieties of citrus fruit.