The Crazy History of Lemons

In this video, we take a look at the history of lemons and lemonade, stretching across history to its mysterious origins in the ancient world.

Find us here too!

The following music performed by Kevin Macleod Available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Teller of the Tales
Majestic Hills
Desert City
Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G, Movement I (Allegro), BWV 1049 [orig. by JS Bach]

These songs provided by the YouTube audio library

Beijaflor
Spanish Rose
Vacation Casual
Drunken Sailor
Lazy River Rag
Summer Symphony Ball

Works Cited

[1] Li, Xiaomeng et al. "The Origin of Cultivated Citrus as Inferred from Internal Transcribed Spacer and Chloroplast DNA Sequence and Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Fingerprints." Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, 2010/07/01

[2] Fiorentino, Girolamo et al. "AGRUMED: the History of Citrus Fruits in The Mediterranean. Introductions, Diversifications and Uses." Antiquity. 088. 2014.

[3] Langgut, D. (2017). "The Citrus Route Revealed: From Southeast Asia into the Mediterranean." HortScience horts, 52(6), 814-822.

[4] Duarte, Amílcar et al. (2016). "Citrus As a Component of The Mediterranean Diet." Journal of Spatial and Organizational Dynamics, Vol. IV, Issue 4, (2016) 289-304.

[10] Kumaravel Rajakumar; Infantile Scurvy: A Historical Perspective. Pediatrics October 2001; 108 (4): e76. 10.1542/peds.108.4.e76

[11] Drymon, M.M. "Disguised as the Devil: How Lyme Disease Created Witches and Changed History." Wythe Avenue Press, 2008.

[12] Kiple, Kenneth F., and Kriemhild Conee Ornelas, editors. "Cambridge World History of Food, Volume 1." Cambridge University Press, 2000.

[13] Rupp, Rebecca. "How Lemons Helped Defeat Napoleon." National Geographic. Oct. 1, 2014.

[14] Lazslo, Pierre. "Citrus: A History." University of Chicago Press, 2007.

[19] Spary, E.C. "Eating the Enlightenment: Food and the Sciences in Paris, 1670-1760." University of Chicago Press, Apr 8, 2013.

[20] Kiniry, Laura. "The Unusual Origins of Pink Lemonade." Smithsonian Magazine, Aug 16, 2016.

Picture Attributions

[regsun]

I had a relative who lived in California during the middle part of the last century. He owned an orchard where among his crops were lemons. Near to 1970 he and his family made a holiday visit to our much more northern home and when he came he brought along a 50-pound burlap bag full of lemons from his trees. They were not like lemons from the store--they were almost as sweet as oranges and that whole bag disappeared in fairly short order.

[biggnesss]

"When life gives you lemons."
"When lemons give you life."

[richardmyhan]

I actually have a ponderosa dwarf lemon tree. She sits in a large pot on my porch until the weather gets too cold. She has a designated spot in my living room. Her name is Doris.

[grandpamao]

“The ‘ade’ in ‘Gatorade’ indicates it is not pure gator juice”

[In_Our_Timeline]

“Roses and violets from summer gardens, sun-drenched Sicilian lemons
squeezed of their juice and mingled with juniper from the frozen north.
Saffron threads and gold leaf from the Indies waited to be turned into
something magical. And contained deep within all of this was a smile
that flooded him with warmth, a pair of blue eyes, and the scent of
chocolate...”
―Laura Madeleine

[roberttelarket]

For long term seafaring explorers they were vital against not known to them scurvy!
Finally the English discovered that lemons and limes prevented this and so they stored it on their ships.
That’s where their sailors got the name limeys!

[sth.]

The Dunmore House in Scotland is famous, as the central section of the walled garden wall is shaped like a pineapple. It contained a hothouse, and was used to grow pineapples, which were also seen as a bit of a badge of honour for having travelled to exotic locations...

[sansbazinga]

I am so happy I found this channel! I love history, and find this food history series very interesting! The videos are well done and articulate, and your voice is engaging, great work! I can't wait to see what else you make! Personally, I'd love to see a video on the history of cheese as it is my favorite food, as well as perhaps the history of the coconut!

[hannahstargrin]

“like most people today they probably weren’t eating them on their own” me sitting here eating a lemon like an orange

[JSCRocketScientist]

On the Texas gulf coast lemons grow everywhere. We grow a number of varieties in our yard (2 varieties of Meyer Lemons and Ujukitsu that are so sweet, you don’t have to add water and sugar to make lemonade), as well as Golden Grapefruits that look like sour yellow grapefruit but tastes like an orange, and Satsumas (a kind of tangerine). We have a fig tree, grapes and blackberries. Hilariously, because everyone thinks Texas is hot, it’s too cold to grow limes. They are grown further south in the Rio Grande Valley.

[romecottrell]

I used to visit my friend who lived in Northern California, and in that city there were lemon trees in everyone's yard and sometimes the people would let me picked some lemons 🫐🍋 to take home 🏡. I like visiting my friend 😅.

[wesleyford]

Hi from Australia
Love this site. It gives a unique perspective on history.

[davidashmore]

Thank you for this upload. Have a lovely weekend.

[truerthanyouknow]

This may have cured my insomnia. Thank you for that.

[bigbelix]

Another captivating and informative video, thank you mr. learning

[planescaped]

13:03 I never thought to have kids sell homegrown garden veggies. That actually seems like a really good idea.

I've no interest in lemonade stands usually, but if I saw a kid selling home grown summer squash and carrots, I'd buy some.

[shellyirby]

Thank you for another interesting food history video!

[Michelle-Eden]

You forgot to mention my Ford. It's a lemon too.

[Will]

I’ve gotta watch more of your videos, they’re well done. Cheers

[Balloushop]

My Man I have a Playlist specifically for food facts, and you sir have just made my list.