Well, Gnome has always been telling me that he prefers lemons to limes. In fact, we find it at lot easier to grow lemons in Toledo compared to all the other citrus. The citrus here are really susceptible to the “citrus greening disease” which is caused by the Asian citrus psyllid. We don’t need to go into the technical details but basically this insect feeds on parts of the citrus tree and in turn spreads a deadly bacterial disease. The diseased tree exhibits yellowing of leaves and defoliation. Many of our citrus have this disease and in fact we have lost grapefruit, oranges, limes and kumquats to this infestation.
This disease is also called Huanglongbing because its origins trace back to Tropical Asia and this means “yellow dragon disease.”
Anyway, back to the lemons. Out of all the citrus, our lemons seem to have developed a healthy resistance to this disease. And we have been getting a really good harvest this season. We have been using peels for flavouring (teas/ liqueurs/cooking), collecting the lemon essential oil from the peel and squeezing the juice to make solid lemon ice cubes. We also have limes baring but I have not been as aggressive in harvesting them.
And, so everyday, we drink cool water with lemon ice cubes. Today, I decided to try the lemon-lime challenge with Gnome to see if he would notice the difference. Instead of his usual lemon cube, I squeezed lime juice into his water. With a twinkle in my eye I said to him,
“Well, did you like your lemon drink?”
I put particular emphasis on the word “lemon.”
Gnome replied, “Yes, very good.”
I giggled and guffawed and said, “You’ve just failed the lemon-lime challenge!”
(It’s a bit like the Pepsi-Cola Challenge!!)
Gnome retorted by saying that it wasn’t fair because he did not know that I was testing him.
I said, “That was the point.”
Anyway, in conclusion we have decided that we can squeeze lemons and limes to make our ice cubes. It makes no difference really and both adequately quench our thirst. So no more poo-pooing limes!!