itrus limetta, known inexplicably as the 'sweet lemon,' has all of the astringency of a regular lemon without any of the acidity or sweetness. I choked it down. For the purposes of meeting my goal it seemed worth the effort. As unpleasant as it was to eat an entire serving of C. limetta's fruit, it was undoubtedly better than eating a whole sour lemon.
Along with other members of the Rutaceae family, C. limetta originated in Eurasia. One confounding attribute of citrus fruits for my purposes is that various sources list differing species classifications for commercially important members of the Rutaceae family. Many common citrus fruits are hybrids. And sources often disagree about the parent plants or even whether individual species should be considered a hybrid or a species in its own right.
C. limetta – along with (C. maxima, pomelo) is one of the few citrus fruits widely accorded a species designation. (Some sources do list it as a hybrid, though). Sweet lemons were originally introduced from the Mediterranean basin. They made their way to the Americas – along other citrus fruits, as part of the Colombian exchange.
It made its way into my hands, though, by mistake. I was looking for a regular lemon to put in a marinade and wound up with a sweet lemon instead. Unfortunately, C. limonetta doesn't have enough acidity to be worth putting in a marinade.
Once I realized my mistake, I asked a Costa Rican acquaintance what people use sweet lemon for. His response: “Mostly just for eating. But they're not very good.”
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