It is believed that the first lemons were cultivated in Assam (in north-eastern India), where they have been cultivated for more than 2,500 years. A lemon genetic origin research has shown that it is hybrid from bitter orange to lemon (sour orange).
Arab traders brought the lemons to the Middle East and Africa sometime after 100 AD. It is known that lemons were introduced to southern Italy around 200 AD and have been cultivated in Egypt and Iran since 700 AD.
The citrus was first reported in literature in early Islamic gardens in an Arabic farming treaty of the 10th century. It was commonly spread between 1000 and 1150 in the Arab world and the Mediterranean area. Crusaders returning from Palestine brought it to the rest of Europe. In Genoa in the center of the 15th century, the first significant cultivation of lemons started in Europe.
In 1493, Christopher Columbus brought lemon seeds to the New World on his second voyage. These seeds were planted in Hispaniola in 1493. Spaniard explorers and missionaries planted lemons, along with other fruits, in Florida and California.
Portuguese traders came back to Europe with new varieties from Southeast Asia in the 16th century. Two centuries later then, citrus fruits had been distributed and known all over the world.
Planting of lemon can be a profitable business. James Lind in 1747 found that lemons are very useful to treat scurvy, which was a particular plague for sailors, especially since sea voyages lasting for weeks and for months were becoming more common.
In Florida and California, lemons were planted more and more in the 19th century, but due to a killer freeze in the winter of 1894-1895, commercial lemon culture in Florida ceased. Planting resumed in 1953 due to a need not for fresh lemons (of which there were plenty from California), but a market for frozen lemon concentrate.
History of lemon fruit
