On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 727

juice becomes bitter on standing. Some
grapefruit phenolic compounds turn out to
interfere with our metabolism of certain
drugs,causethedrugstopersistlongerinthe
body, and thus cause the equivalent of an
overdose,somedicinelabelssometimeswarn
against consuming grapefruit or its juice
along with the medicine. (These same
phenolics are now being developed into
activity-boosting
drug
ingredients.)
Grapefruits have an especially complex
aroma, which includes meaty and musky
sulfurcompounds.
Lime Limes are the most acidic of the citrus
fruits,asmuchas8%oftheirweightcoming
fromcitricacid.Thesmall,seedyMexicanor
Keylime,C.aurantifolia,isthestandardsour
citrusfruitinthetropics,wherelemonsdon’t
grow well. In western Asia it’s sun-dried
whole, then ground and used as an aromatic,
somewhat musty acidifier. The larger,


seedless,morecold-tolerantPersianorTahiti
or Bearss lime,C. latifolia, may be a hybrid
betweenthetruelimeandcitron,andismore
common in the United States and Europe.
Despitethegeneralimpressionthatlimesare
characteristically“lime-green,”bothturnpale

yellow when fully ripe. They owe their
distinctive limeness to pine, floral, and spicy
aromanotes(fromterpenes).
LemonLemonsmayhaveoriginatedasatwostephybrid,thefirst(citroncrossedwith
lime)arisingintheareaofnorthwestIndia
andPakistan,thesecond([citroncrossedwith
lime]crossedwithpummelo)intheMiddle
East.LemonsarrivedintheMediterranean
around100CE,wereplantedinorchardsin
MoorishSpainby400,andarenowmainly
cultivatedinsubtropicalregions.They’re
valuedfortheiracidity,often5%ofthejuice,
andtheirfresh,brightaroma,whichisthe
baseformanypopularfreshandbottled
drinks.Therearemanyvarietiesoftrue