This huge citrons have little pulp and a thick peel (the white albedo), which is usually candied (known in Greece as “kitro glyko” (κίτρο γλυκό)) and added as “succade” to pastry. Liqueur and jam are also prepared from the peel. Cut into thin slices and marinated in salt, sugar, pepper and olive oil, the fruit is processed into cedri carpaccio in Sicily. In South Asia, citron peel is sometimes also pickeled. On Samoa the soft drink “vai tipolo” is made from the few fruit juices, whereas in Japan “Yuzu” is used in dips and marinades.

Because every part of the plant smells of citron and the shrub bears an abundance of flowers and huge fruits at the same time, this plant has religious significance in several cultures: selected varieties and fruits as Etrog (Essrig) in Judaism, the bizarre variety ‘Buddha’s Hand‘ in Buddhism, and in Greece citrons symbolized the golden apples of the Hesperides.

• Edible Fruits
• Type of fruit Hesperidium
• Culinary Group Citrus fruits
• Taste Aromatic sour
• Trivial Names Zitronatzitrone, Cedrat, Zedrat, Cedrizitrone, Zedernfrucht, Cedernfrucht, Medischer Apfel, Apfel aus Medien, Judenapfel, Citron, Cedro, Cédrat, Cédratier, Turunj, Kabbad, Bushukan
• Size (length of fruit) 13 cm
• Taxonomy Rutaceae (Rue family) Citrus medica 'Maxima'
• Origin South-Asia (Map)
• Locality Palmengarten Frankfurt (FRP) 2017