Uzbek Lemons - The Best Lemons In The World

While living in Tashkent, I did not attach any importance to what I put in my tea for a lemon. I thought a lemon can be only a lemon - fragrant, sweetish-sour, thin… As it appeared it can be different: coarse and not juicy, with a grapefruit-like skin of half a finger thick, practically odorless or vice versa - with a strong smell, but rather a flavor, not quite a lemonish! After moving to Russia for several years, I understood why Uzbek lemons are 3-4 times more expensive than those citrus sold in any Russian supermarket. That’s because they are real, they have their own unique taste - and not just acid. Uzbek lemons differ from those brought up overseas about the same as village apples differ from plastic and waxed.

Uzbek lemon immediately stands out against its supermarket «relatives». The price isn’t the only reason. It is flat, smooth and not very large, rather roundish than oblong, and its peel is cheerfully orange (it looks more like a mandarin from a distance) and a delicate, non-porous texture that promises thin skin. You will feel the difference in taste later when trying deliciously juicy sweet and sour pulp, which has a unique taste and magic flavor. I would even say that the Uzbek lemon taste is the standard of lemon taste as such, at least for true connoisseurs of this citrus. When cutting an Uzbek lemon its unique rich and sour aroma spreads throughout the room and fills the air with bracing freshness.

It is the Tashkent lemon that is an ingredient of a vitamin drink against colds, flu and autumn spleen - tea with lemon and honey. Raised in the sun, a special sort of lemon, along with a delicious taste has all the healing properties that this fruit can boast: the high content of vitamin C and other vitamins, as well as the essential oil within its peel that can boost up immunity significantly and help to cope with many diseases. The most delicate candied fruits are made from its peel!

A low bow should be made to the Tashkent breeders, in particular, the distinguished Uzbek agronomist  Zainiddin Fakhritdinov. In 1959 he initiated the cultivation of lemons in Uzbekistan, proving that any flora of the globe can successfully grow on the fertile Uzbek land. He is also the founder of the Tashkent Lemonarium, where a unique variety of Uzbek lemon was bred. Much it later gained fame and recognition far beyond the borders of Central Asia.

Every time I leave Tashkent I go to the local market with a sad heart beforehand to buy Uzbek lemons as far as the luggage excess weight and purse allows. So that later in a quiet winter evening I could sip a cup of lemon tea enjoying the familiar taste of Uzbek heat that makes the gray Moscow sky suddenly lighter…

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