THIN-SKINNED LEMONS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 252, 21 July 1934, Page 6

THIN-SKINNED LEMONS

We publish to-day an interview with a restaurateur' who complains that the Dominion cannot produce thin-skinned juicy lemons such as are obtainable from California. Although it does not appear to be generally known, New Zealand can ‘produce the popular lemon of commerce. ■ The reasdh we are not doing so is the fault of the grower rather than the climate. He either does not know how. to produce a! marketablejjCrbp, or does .not fake the trouble to do, so. All lemons'have too much skin and too little juice'when harvested (in California they are, 1 picked while quite green); it is the aftertreatment which, reduces the rind, improves the flavour, and increases the liquid content. In recognised lemon-producing countries the curing process takes as lorig as 60 days, and as the popularity of these imported lemons in this country proves, the trouble makes all. the difference between a product that sells and one that can be disposed of only at a discount. Experiments have already proved that New Zealand lemons can be cured to equal.the imported varieties, and when growers make a practice of offering a finished product to the public.they should v-'have little difficulty in-capturing the domestic market and perhaps an • export outlet as well. .