From Hummus to Yuzu to Sweet Lemon to Bergamot Orange

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On Tuesday, Jan 13, 2004, at 14:37 America/Denver, Pat wrote:

 

> I like adding grapefruit instead of lemon. pink grapefruit is

> terrific! taste the garbanzos, too, before using them. some of the

> canned are very salty. soaking them in cold water for about 30 minutes

> helps -pat

 

Pat,

 

Wow! I am experimenting a lot with hummus however it never occurred to

me to use pink grapefruit instead of lemon. I am currently obsessed

with Sweet Lemons and have them on my Hummus experimentation list. Now

I am adding pink grapefruit. Thank you for the tip.

 

Just a little bit of background about my " Sweet Lemon obsession " . It's

intertwined with my searches for Yuzu and Bergamot Orange. When cooking

recipes by Nobu Matsuhisa or Rocco they " send " me on these extensive

tours searching for fresh Yuzu fruits (Japanese citron) all around

town. It's not easy, at least not here in Denver. I haven't found fresh

Yuzu fruits yet. However, on my first go around I did find Yuzu Juice

in bottles in one very tiny Korean store - only after going back with

Nobu's book in my hand showing them the picture and the Japanese

characters. Anyway, this time I started out with fresh Yuzu as the goal

again. So far I have only managed to buy all of the very last bottles

in my tiny Korean store. I asked them, begged them to order more,

however I don't speak Korean and the manager wasn't in the other day...

I may have to go back with an empty bottle

 

In the meantime Sweet Lemons have become my hero! Whenever the recipe

is asking for Yuzu juice I use the bottle juice. Whenever zest is asked

for I use Sweet Lemon zest instead. In the process I have discovered

how heavenly Sweet lemon zest is! And I use it for my own version of

Earl Grey Tea: replacing Bergamot Orange zest with the zest of Sweet

Lemon.

 

Here some links with pictures to the mentioned fruits:

 

Yuzu (Citron):

http://www.foodsubs.com/Fruitcit.html

scroll to C - the picture is listed under citron = cedro = yuzu

 

Sweet Lemon:

http://ccpp.ucr.edu/variety/588.html

 

Bergamot Orange:

http://www.foodsubs.com/Fruitcit.html (second on from the top)

 

The Bergamot Orange is a small citrus fruit (Citrus aurantium subsp.

bergamia). It is cultivated mostly in southern Italy, and is the

flavoring used in Earl Grey Tea.

 

Sweet Lemons and Bergamot Oranges look very similar. Here in Colorado I

can always get Sweet Lemons at a Middle Eastern store. They are trying

to get me Bergamot Oranges and say it's difficult. I am still hoping to

get fresh Yuzu fruits one day at my Japanese market.

 

If any one has experience with any of these three fruits, could you

please be so kind and share with us? Thank you. Best regards,

 

Eruna