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

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Predictably given the geography of its explorations this is a book full of digressions. As a writer about Italian gardens and a leader of visiting groups, Attlee can’t help meandering down some alluring botanical or historical pathways with literary references hedging the horticultural hot-beds, from Theophrastus to Hans Christian Anderson, Lampedusa, DH Lawrence and Edward Lear to name a few. 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. 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.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - '4 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 TelegraphA delightful book about Italy's unexpected history, told through its citrus fruitsThe 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.'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 'A paradise of citrus is how I always think of Italy too: a place where ice-cold limoncello is sipped from tiny glasses on piazzas, and everything from ricotta cake to osso bucco is enlivened with zest. What a joy, therefore, to read Helena Attlee's The Land Where Lemons Grow, which tells the story of Italy through its citrus fruit' Bee Wilson, Telegraph 272 pp. Englisch. Lemons originated in the Himalayan foothills; all oranges come from Assam or Burma (research suggests China may be another source) 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.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. 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 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 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.

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. The product of several years’ investigation into ‘the story of Italy and its citrus fruit’, Helena Attlee has written a book that is a perfect combination of food and travel. Sour oranges, citrons, esrogim, tangelos, tangerines, mandarins, satsumas, grapefruit, lemons - the list is a long one. The Sicilian mafia has its roots (no pun intended) in the citrus trade which has been a staple of Italy’s economy for hundreds of years. There are some products, eg esrogim, which can only be grown successfully in southern Italy which sees an influx of rabbis every August as they arrive from all over the world to buy them for Sukkoth, a religious festival. 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 If you love eating, traveling and/or have a sweet spot for Italy, The Land Where Lemons Grow is the perfect read. Each chapter pays homage to a different region of Italy where lemons have been revered and delves into the many different varieties that exist. Little did I know this fruit has such connections with the mafia in Sicily, Sephardic Jews, and Salvatore Ferragamo. Attlee also investigates various trades and recipes related to citrus varieties including bergamot, marmalade, and blood oranges. There are also a number of intriguing recipes you can find in the book. Although I have yet to try any of them (some of them are rather odd and require hard to find ingredients) it is so much fun to read. 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 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. A paradise of citrus is how I always think of Italy too: a place where ice-cold limoncello is sipped from tiny glasses on piazzas, and everything from ricotta cake to osso bucco is enlivened with zest. What a joy, therefore, to read Helena Attlee's The Land Where Lemons Grow, which tells the story of Italy through its citrus fruit Bee Wilson, Telegraph 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 It appears that lemons first grew wild in Himalayan forests, while all oranges came originally from Assam and Burma, although there is now evidence that some originated in China. These fruits arrived in Italy with the Arabs landing in Sicily in 831 and were first planted in groves on the outskirts of Palermo, especially in the fertile landscape still known as the Conca d’Oro, or golden bowl. This lovely district was no proof, however, against the growth and eventual dominance of the criminal Cosa Nostra:

Thrillingly sensual, and zesty in every sense, Helena Attlee is the best of companions as she leads us through sundrenched citrus groves and in and out of history. A book full of surprises, with many curiosities, stories and recipes on the way Deborah Moggach, author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 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 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.One thing for sure is I was curious why our rental home for the summer was called the limonaia. When I finally did some rudimentary research I realized it was originally built as a hibernation-den for lemons! In the winter months Tuscany gets rather cold and citrus plants like lemon trees need to be sheltered inside. Now that I think of it even in New York my dad, who loves gardening, tends to move our potted lemon trees into the house for winter! 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." A Spanish ship sheltering in Dundee in the 1700s unloaded its cargo of oranges from Seville, and as these were too bitter for sale a Mrs. Keiller used them instead of her usual quinces for marmalade — very profitably as it turned out. Three centuries later the organic citrus estate at San Giuliano in Sicily was the home of the late Fiamma Ferragamo, famous as the principal designer for Ferragamo shoes; her daughter Giulia has maintained Fiamma’s exports of hand-made single-fruit San Giuliano marmalade using lemons, red grapefruit, sweet, sour or blood oranges, mandarins or tangelos. 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