Italian island life and Caviar Limes
The life lemons give you in food, film and travel
Hello, and welcome to this week’s news and thoughts from The Lemon Grove and me, Bruce McMichael. In this issue, we’ll take a look at the southern Italian island of Procida, home to a rather special lemon, consider which food-centric films might be on you bucket list to see and mix a gin & tonic with a Caviar Lime.
This newsletter is published weekly and will over time include much more from podcasts and videos, to classes and lemon-themed merchandise, travel and recipe tips. As more content is added, some of it will be available to founder members and subscribers only. Thank you for reading and welcome to the journey, especially to those founder members and subscribers.
Check out The Lemon Grove TV’s Caviar Lime video on You Tube. You’ll find the link below with the recipe.
Procida, the Italian island of lemons and now culture
Neapolitan island life sounds idyllic. Easily accessible to the energy, passion and heat of daily life that is Naples, home of simple toppings of the thin and soft crust pizzas, one island, Procida, has been named Italy's Capital of Culture of 2022.
Famous for its multicoloured houses that brighten up the hills around the main port and the sprawling castle that dominates the island, Procida is also home to the eponymous lemon. The lemons are quite a size, perhaps four times larger than the ones you'll find in supermarkets, and that maybe is a clue as to why they are rarely stocked. With porous and lumpy peel, the locals chop them into chunks to sweeten salads, shredded for pasta dishes or distilled into Limoncello. With a particularly thick albedo (the spongy white layer below the yellow peel), so thick that islanders refer to it as 'bread'. Once more profitable than the island's other main crop vines, many groves lie abandoned.
With an intense perfume and gentle acidity, slices of Procida lemons are often served with a pinch of sugar as a sweet treat.
But such is the rarity of the lemon, its survival is so threatened that Slow Food International has included it in its Ark of Taste. The Ark is a register of endangered foods, livestock products, and fruit and drink products, which helps highlight the threatened and support efforts to increase their production and consumption.
But for many locals and most tourist visitors, it's hiking the Vivara Island nature reserve and eating pizzas and limoncello-spiked spritzes, often overlooking black volcanic sandy beaches.
Lingue di Procida, Tongue of Procida, is a puff pastry overflowing with cream flavoured by the island's lemons. Biting into its rich golden-coloured, tongue-shaped appearance, the pastry's fluffy layers melt into a creamy, lemony filling. Not a term that I would use, but some refer to this confection as mother-in-law's tongue, Lingua di Suocera! It's a perfect breakfast for the sweet-toothed Italian and pairs deliciously with a mid-morning coffee or Limoncello spritz for an indulgent mid-day aperitivo.
Despite being the smallest of the Tyrrhenian Sea's islands, Procida's picturesque setting has frequently attracted filmmakers, with directors famously filming Il Postino (The Postman) and The Talented Mr Ripley on the island's streets and bays.
The Capital of Culture announcement was celebrated by loudly ringing church bells and parties among the 10,500 islanders.
So what can culture seekers expect to find on the island during its year in the creative melting pot? With a €1million award, you'll find over 40 newly commissioned projects spanning art, urban regeneration, environmental sustainability and more, involving 240 artists and 40 original works.
For travel information about Procida, click here.
THE MENU ... FOOD, DRINK, INGREDIENTS, PLACES
As scorched fields across rural Britain gave way to flooded streets in towns and cities, I visited Chart Sutton and an organic farm that supplies and scheme giant Riverford with apples for its Kent, UK customers. It was an enlightening experience. For example, fruit is constantly under attack from bugs such as codling moths, apple scab, honey fungus and aphids, so many aphids! And heat. This year has seen temperatures reach 40ºC (104ºF) which one midday in early August boiled exposed fruit on the branch (see pic below). Those will be used for juicing.
This farm lays low in the cooler air and on the edge of the High Weald and the very productive Greensand Ridge. Many years ago trees were grown so that fruit hung from branches some two metres above the ground and away from frosty air (see third image below). But these trees took some ten years to bear fruit and so modern stock was bred to produce fruit after just one of two years and lower to the ground to aid picking.
Frost is still an issue however, especially for an organic farm which shies away from burning paraffin, as continental European winemakers do, with such visually spectacular results to burn away the cold air. The orchard has dozens of apple varieties growing with more or less success including Cox Royale, Early Windsor and Crimson Crisp.
Click here to see photos of candles warming wintry vineyards.
READ, WATCH, LISTEN ... SOME RECOMMENDATIONS
Do you have a list of food films you need to see and probably have wanted to watch for ages? When my friend Diana recently mentioned her favourite food film was Like Water for Chocolate, I was slightly taken aback to realise I'd never seen it. Based on the magic realism novel by Mexican screenwriter Laura Esquivel, the story revolves around the life of a daughter caring for her mother and only being able to express herself through cooking. I'm watching it this weekend.
So while I can't yet comment on the film, here is a list of ten food films I can recommend and ten of my bucket list films. Let me know in the comments if I missed any on my food film bucket list and I welcome your suggestions. For various reasons, many didn't make it on either list, including Delicatessen (1991), Fast Food Nation and Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971).
Films recommended by Bruce and The Lemon Grove
Chef (2014)
Big Night (1996)
Chocolat (British, 2000)
Julia & Julia (2019)
Ratatouille (2007)
Sideways (2004)
Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)
The Cook The Thief His Wife Her Lover (1989)
The Trip (2014)
The Hundred Foot Journey (2014)
Bucket list films
Like Water for Chocolate (1992)
Babette's Feast (1987)
Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe (1987)
Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
Tampopo (1995)
The Lunchbox (2013)
Tangerines (2013)
The Baker's Wife (1938)
The Ramen Girl (2008)
Soylent Green (1973).
STOP PRESS ... READ ALL ABOUT IT
I recently delivered a Food Writing workshop for food and drink PR and marketing agency Sharp Relations, based near Ashford in Kent, UK. The session ranged widely from how to find the best words to describe the five senses, textures and visual clues to closely looking at and mindfully peeling and eating tangerines and so experiencing how intense observation can reveal hidden details and interest.
It was a very rewarding for me to work with such an engaged and dynamic team.
Contact Sharp Relations here.
RECIPE OF THE WEEK
GIN & TONIC FEATURING CAVIAR LIME
Enjoy The Lemon Grove TV’s quick video about Caviar Limes and how to use them in a gin & tonic. Click here to watch.
The Latin name citrus australasica offers a clue to this fruit's origin.
As a citrus plant native to Australia, caviar limes and now increasingly being sold as 'gourmet bush tucker' across its home country.
These finger-sized fruits break open to release tiny citrus flavour bombs that burst on the tongue. It has a flavour somewhere between a lime and a grapefruit, an perhaps a hint of lemon verbena.
Nicknamed ‘Gourmet Bush Tucker’ in its native Australia, the Caviar Lime is heading to Europe and north America, where it's popping up on salads, fish and traditional cocktails such as gin & tonic.
They might look innocent enough, but each is packed with flavours bombs, tangy pearls that burst on the tongue, unleashing their zesty juice in a wave of fragrant sweet-sour flavour.
Originally grown in Australia, this fruit is now grown in southern Italy and Spain, particularly around Seville and the US. You’ll find citrus enthusiasts growing the fruit in cooler, more northern climates but not in commercial volumes.
The examples, pictured below, were delivered this week in my fruit and veg box from organic farmer and supplier, Riverford.
They source these caviar limes from Spanish citrus grower Amadora Gahona and her family in Mairena del Alcor, near Seville. They are selected from several different varieties of finger lime ripening at various times throughout the season. “With different nuances of shape, colour and flavour. The season kicks off with the wonderfully named Flavourly Green, an egg-shaped variety with a mild, lemony taste and distinctive aroma,” says Riverford.
“Finger limes don’t need cooking or any prep,” notes Riverford. “Halve the fruit, squeeze out the pearls, and sprinkle them over all sorts of dishes for a wonderfully fresh, zesty garnish. They are particularly good with seafood, such as ceviche, fish tacos or steamed fish, but will also add a brilliant citrus lift to vegetables or even desserts. Their sharpness can provide a satisfying contrast with sweet summer fruits". Cooks gently stir into mayonnaise for added pop in salads, boiled potatoes or fries.
Store them in a cool room or fridge for up to a week.
Other varieties include (Source: Linsfood.com):
Rainforest Pearl. Citrus australasica var. sanguinea, green fruit with touches of red with pink pearls.
Pink Ice. Citrus australasica, reddish fruit with clear to light pink pearls.
Durhams Emerald. Citrus australasica, black fruit with an emerald green flesh.
Judy’s Everbearing. Citrus australasica, green-brown to maroon fruit with green to deep pink flesh.
The Classic Gin and Tonic
Ingredients
Large pieces of cubed ice
50 ml Gin of your choice
100 ml Premium tonic water
1 Caviar lime, opened with a sharp knife, remove jewels gently
1 Lime slice, for garnish
Large balloon glass
Sharp knife
Cocktail stirrer
Method
Fill glass to rim with large cubed ice
Pour over 50ml of your favourite gin
Gently place caviar jewels into a large balloon glass
Top with premium tonic waters and garnish with the lime slice
Stir gently. Sip and enjoy ... responsibly!
Ways to mix it up
Muddle basil or mint leaves in the glass. Remove crushed leaves.
Caviar lime is also great in Gimlets, Daiquiris, Margarita's and Mojitos.
