Re: On the subject of fruits....

[Dick Eney <dickeney@access.digex.net>]

Poster: Dick Eney <dickeney@access.digex.net>


On Sun, 1 Dec 1996, Matthew Allen Newsome wrote:
> 
> As long as we're talking about fruits, does anyone know what kind of 
> citrus fruits were available in Europe before the discovery of the New World.
> (I ask, because I am a fan of cirtus and would like to know, and also 
> because I watched 1492 on tape over the weekend, and the opening scene 
> had Columbus eating what looked like an orange....)

Oranges from China (and, later, from Spain) and Citrons (by Hebrew
tradition, this is the "fruit of a goodly tree" used on some religious
occasions).  Grapefruit (or "shaddock" -- what we now call "grapefruit")
wasn't.  Between lemons and limes I'm not clear, especially since lemons
were originally called "limes" and the Brits once got into trouble by
using what we _now_ call limes for their juice.  It seems that limes --
the green kind -- differ from other citrus fruits in not having lots of
Vitamin C in their juice...er, sorry, I mean not having the unknown vital
factor that prevents scurvy on long ocean voyages.  After the discovery
that limes (i.e., lemons) had a juice which was potent against this
malaise they'd started serving a ration of lime (lemon) juice, hence the
nickname for British sailors and, later, Brits in general.  Then some sod
in the Admiralty discovered that limes (i.e., limes) could be bought
cheaper at Malta than limes (i.e., lemons) from the New World could be had
at London, so he substituted limes (limes) for limes (lemons) and...uh,
this all happened out of period anyway, so let's not worry about it.

|---------Master Vuong Manh, C.P., Storvik, Atlantia---------|
|Now, let's stop and think: how would Bugs Bunny handle this?|
|----------------(dickeney@access.digex.net)-----------------|


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