The Variegated Pink Lemon, A Eureka Lemon Mutation - The Nibble Webzine Of Food Adventures The Variegated Pink Lemon, A Eureka Lemon Mutation
 
 
 
 
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The Variegated Pink Lemon, A Eureka Lemon Mutation


[1] Variegated pink lemons are difficult to find outside of California, but you can order them online from specialty produce purveyors like Melissa’s (photo © Melissa’s Produce).


[2] Serve a slice with a cocktail, seafood or salad, and let family and guests experience the fun of discovery (photos #2 and #3 © Fast Growing Trees).


[3] If you can grow citrus outdoors, buy yourself a dwarf tree.


[4] Pink lemonade (photo © Sence Nectar [now closed]).

 

When life gives you lemons, goes the proverb, make lemonade. But when life gives you a fancy lemon, show it off to your family and friends.

The variegated pink-fleshed Eureka lemon in the photos is a beauty inside and out, from its pretty striped rind to the pink flesh inside.

Yes, its juice is pink, too…and if can afford it (they’re more expensive than conventional lemons), make pink lemonade!

The juice is sweeter (less acidic), with wonderful lemon flavor and fewer seeds than the conventional Eureka lemon.

The crop grows throughout year in California, but is mainly sold in that state at specialty markets, and online.

The leaves are variegated green and white, making the tree a lovely ornamental choice, although it’s a bit less vigorous than a typical Eureka lemon tree.
 
 
SO WHAT IS THE VARIEGATED PINK-FLESHED EUREKA LEMON?

Also called the variegated Eureka lemon, pink-fleshed Eureka lemon or pink lemonade lemon, it’s a cultivar of the Eureka lemon (Citrus × limon*).

It was discovered as a bud sport on an ordinary Eureka lemon tree in a private garden Burbank, California, in 1931 [source].

In botany, a bud sport, or sport, is a part of a plant that shows morphological† differences from the rest of the plant.

Sports may differ by foliage shape or color, flowers, fruit, or branch structure. The cause is believed to be a chance genetic mutation.

Sports with desirable characteristics are often propagated to form new cultivars.

In addition to the variegated Eureka lemon, examples of fruits propogated from bud sports include, among numerous others, the:

  • Blood orange (from the conventional sweet orange)
  • Nectarine (from a peach)
  • Pink grapefruit (from white grapefruit), red grapefruit (from pink grapefruit)
  • Red Anjou pear (from the green Anjou)
  • Green grapes (from black/purple grapes)
  • Grand Gala and Big Red Gala apples (from the Gala apple)
  • Winesap apple (from the Stayman [there are many other apple bud sports)
  •  
     
    HOW TO SHOW OFF THE LEMONS

    This pink-flesh lemon deserves to be the focus of attention, so people can enjoy the appearance of both the rind and the flesh.

    The best way is to use it as a garnish for:

  • Cocktails, iced tea, lemonade, soft drinks, water
  • Fish and shellfish
  • Lemon desserts
  • Vegetables and salads
  •  
     
    GET YOUR VARIEGATED EUREKA LEMONS

  • Get the lemons online at Melissas.com.
  • Or, buy yourself a dwarf tree.
  •  
     
    > THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF LEMONS

    > THE HISTORY OF LEMONS
     
    ________________

    *The supermarket lime, or Persian lime, is Citrus × latifolia.

    †Morphological means relating to the form or structure of things.

     

     
      

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