Lemons, one of the most highly alkalinizing foods, are native to tropical Asia, where cultivation goes back at least 2,500 years. In the twelfth century the Arabs brought lemons to Spain and Africa. It was Christopher Columbus, according to Las Casa, the Spanish historian, who brought seeds of lemons with him from the Canary islands on his second voyage.

In the New World, lemons were introduced by the Spanish adventurers in Haiti, then known as Hispaniola. In the US, Florida was the first lemon-producing area, and this state led in production of lemons until the heavy freeze in 1895 killed the lemon groves. They were never replanted. Now, about 95 percent of the lemons used in the US and Canada are produced in southern California. The other 5 percent are grown in Italy. Italy and California together produce all of the world’s entire supply of lemons.

In 1870, a variety of lemon called the Eureka was started from the Sicilian lemon seed planted in Los Angeles by C.R. Workmen. The Eureka, along with Libson, are the two varieties most commonly grown commercially. The Eureka grows in prolific quantity and is early-bearing, from late spring to summer; the Libson tends to bear only one large crop a year, in either spring or winter. A single lemon tree has been known to produce 3,000 lemons a year. This is because lemon trees bloom and ripen fruit every month of the year. The most fruit is produced between January and May.

The best lemons have skin of an oily, fine texture and are heavy for their size. This type is more apt to be full of juice, with a minimum of seeds and waste fibers. Choose lemons of a deep yellow color for ripeness and juice. They should be firm, but not hard, to the touch. Avoid using lemons that show signs of bruises, as fruits that have been mechanically injured are more subject to mold. Decay on the fruit appears as a mold or a discolored soft area at the stem end. Shriveled or hard-skinned fruits, or those that are soft or spongy to the touch, are not desirable. They may be old, dried out, mechanically injured, or affected by a rot at the center.

Lemon juice makes a good substitute for vinegar, especially in salad dressing, and for flavorings generally. Use a little lemon juice to cut the sweetness in very sweet fruit juices and use lemons in milk or cream, or canned milk, to curdle it, or when you want to make cheese. Use lemon to soften water to make an excellent rinse.

THERAPEUTIC VALUE

The lemon is rich in alkaline elements. Fresh lemon juice is an outstanding source of vitamin C. However, most of this valuable vitamin is lost if the juice is left exposed to air too long. Lemons are high in potassium, rich in vitamin B, and maybe considered a good source of vitamin G. Both lemons and limes contain 5-6 percent citric acid as compared with oranges, which contain 1 to 2 percent. The lemon is classified as an acid fruit, along with other citrus fruits, cranberries, loganberries, loquats, pineapples, pomegranates, strawberries and tamrinds.

Lemons are ideal for getting rid of toxic materials in the body, but citric acid in lemons can really stir up inactive acids and inactive toxic settlements of the body. The mineral content of the lemon is alkaline-forming in its ash. However, before this alkaline ash goes into the tissues, the citric acid is stirring up many of the acids in the body andit is difficult to get rid of the toxic conditions. We cannot get rid of these toxins because the kidneys, bowels, lungs and skin are not throwing off the body acids fast enough. When these acids are not thrown off quickly enough, they stay in the body becoming so active that academia and other irritating conditions may arise. A person with a highly acid stomach and acid reactions in the body will find that he/she is allergic to many foods. Citric acid would not produce as many irritating effects in persons with this problem if they would first make sure that the eliminative organs were working properly.

Lemons, and all citric acid fruits, are good in cases of putrefaction, especially of the liver. In many cases, they will help stirrup any latent toxic settlements in the body that cannot be eliminated any other way. Lemon drinks help tremendously when we need to remove the impurities and fermentation effects of a bad liver. We have often used citric acid diets with excellent results. But citric acid juices do thin the blood and we must remember that the elimination diet is only a part of what we require for right living.

Lemons are wonderful for throat trouble and catarrh. At the first sign of a cold, drink a glass of warm, unsweetened lemonade, and the cold maybe prevented. Lemons may aid in digestion and can strengthen resistance. A little lemon and the yolk of a raw egg in a glass of orange juice is an excellent mild laxative, as well as a nutritious drink. But, if you are extremely irritable, nervous, sensitive, or highly toxic, use vegetable juices or vegetable broths instead of citric acid fruits.

Lemons are wonderful for fevers, because a feverish body responds to citric acid fruits better than any other food. If we could live correctly, we would find that citrus fruits are one of the most wonderful foods to put in the body. By “living correctly,” I , mean that if the skin is eliminating properly, it would be able to take care of its share of the waste materials that have to be eliminated. When the skin is not eliminating well and acids are stirred up with citrus fruit, the kidneys have to do more work than they are capable of doing. In this case, it is best to use vegetable juices instead of citrus juice to avoid stirring up the toxemia acids in the body. Vegetable juices carry off toxemia acids and act more as a sedative. Before we use lemons, we should make sure that the eliminative organs are working well, because if they are not, the citric acid will cause over activity. This over activity will result in constant catarrhal discharges, as well as many highly acid reactions in the body.

Lemons can be used very effectively in cases of influenza. My late teacher, Dr. V. G. Rocine, gave me this remedy for influenza many years ago: Bake a lemon for twenty minutes in the oven. Cut it in half and squeeze one half of the baked lemon into a glass of hot water. Drink this every half hour, as long as the fever is present.

The lemon seems to have the properties of increasing elimination through the skin, and therefore helps reduce the fever. The lemon also has certain effects on the germ life found in influenza, since it is a wonderful germicide. In fact, there are at least twenty different germs that can be destroyed by the use of lemon itself. To make this influenza remedy more complete, Dr. Rocine used a boneset tea along with it to control the calcium that is necessary whenever there is a fever.

Nutrients in One Pound (including peel)

Calories: 90

Protein: 3.3 g

Fat: 0.9 g

Carbohydrates: 41 g

Calcium: 274 mg

Phosphorus: 67 mg

Iron: 3.1 mg

Vitamin A: 301 I.U.

Thiamine: 0.06 mg

Riboflavin: 0.18 mg

Niacin: 0.9 mg

Ascorbic acid: 346 mg

The citrus fruit is one of the oldest fruits known in the history of cultivation. As early as 500 B.C. the fruit of the citrus tree was mentioned in a collection of old documents believed to be edited by Confucius himself. In the year A.D. 1178, Han Yen-Chi, a Chinese horticulturist, wrote on the subject of oranges, and the seedless orange was mentioned in these writings. This author speaks of twenty-seven varieties of “very valuable and precious” oranges.

Oranges were originally brought from China to India, and gradually spread over the entire world where the climate was mild enough for their cultivation. The sour orange, or “Naranga,” as it was referred to in Sanskrit about A.D. 100. came into cultivation in the basin of the Mediterranean long before the fall of the Roman Empire. The sweet variety, or “Airavata,” does not appear to have been cultivated until early in the fifteenth century, and then became so popular that it was soon being cultivated extensively throughout Southern Europe. The Moors brought the Seville orange from the East.

Wild oranges were found in the West Indies and Brazil as early as1600. The early Spanish explorers are believed to have brought oranges with them to this country in the time of Ponce de Leon’s quest for the Fountain of Youth. In California, the orange was cultivated at the San Diego Mission in 1769 and, in the year 1804, 400 seedlings grew into a grove of considerable size around the San Gabriel Mission. The popularity of the orange, particularly in the favorable climate of California, grew rapidly, until it soon developed into a leading industry. The orange became known as “California’s liquid sunshine.”

The original orange was very small, bitter, and full of seeds, but through constant efforts in cross-fertilization and selection, many varieties of this delicious fruit are now cultivated with a tremendous improvement in the quality of the fruit. The sweet oranges are, by far, the most popular, while the sour orange is used more for its propagating stock than for its fruit. Unless killed by frost or fire, the orange tree lives to an old age and continues to bear fruit throughout its lifetime.

More than two hundred varieties of oranges are grown in the United States. In 1919 the United States produced only about 25 percent of the world’s total output of oranges, but now it produces about half. Oranges comprise about 60 percent of the citrus fruit grown in the United States.

Oranges are available every day of the year, but are most abundant in the United States from January to May. California, Florida, and Texas are the orange-producing states, and each of these states ships great quantities. California’s vast Valencia orange acreage is now more extensive than the Navel orange plantings. This state now has about 150.000 acres of Valendas, and about 100,000 acres of Navels, with an additional few thousand acres of miscellaneous orange varieties. The largest proportion of the California orange crop-about 85 to 90 percent, comes from southern California.

Choose the first oranges of the season, for they are the richest in mineral values. Tree-ripened oranges have, by far, the greatest mineral content. The best quality orange is firm and heavy, has a fine-textured skin varying in texture according to variety, and is well-colored. The light orange lacks juice. Avoid the soft, flabby, or shriveled orange and those oranges with any soft or moldy areas upon them. Do not eat unripe oranges because they can cause stomach upsets. particularly in small children. Once the skin is cut or broken, the fruit should be eaten immediately as the vitamin C is banned by exposure to the air. If orange juice is kept for a period of time, store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

The orange is classified as a subtropical fruit and has a citric add content of 1.5 percent. This alkaline-reacting fruit is best eaten with other tropical or subtropical fruits, with add fruits, or with nuts or milk. It is best to avoid eating this fruit with starches or sweets, or with dried fruits.

Use oranges as a dessert fruit, with yogurt, or in combination salads. Make a cup of a segmented orange the thick-skinned seedless orange is best for segmenting-and nil with cottage cheese. Make liquefied drinks, mixing orange juice with other subtropical or tropical fruits such as cactus fruits,loquats, mango, papaya, persimmon, pineapple, pomegranate, apples, and citrus fruits. Many have advised eating oranges or drinking orange juice with meals, early in the morning on an empty stomach, or directly following a meal if the body is in a highly add condition.

The orange is one of the best sources of water-soluble vitamin C. The absence or insufficiency of this causes scurvy. As vitamin C is the least stable of all the vitamins, storage of orange juice at low temperature destroys the vitamin to some extent, and sterilization may destroy it completely. Generally, I think it is best to use the citric add fruits in sections rather than in juices. When the orange is eaten in sections, the mineral material found in the pulp will help to neutralize the citric add effect as it goes into the body.

Citrus fruits are high in sodium, but only when completely matured in the sunshine. The fruit acids from green or immature fruit cause many adverse body reactions.

If the section and bulk of the orange is fresh and sweet, it is an excellent food for children as a supplement for those who must drink cow’s milk, or any milk, because it seems to help in the retention of calcium in the body. Ripe oranges contain as much as 10 percent fruit sugar, which can be immediately assimilated by the body.

THERAPEUTIC VALUE

Oranges are the most popular source of Vitamin C. They are excellent for treating over acid body conditions, constipation, or a particularly sluggish intestinal tract. In cases of acidosis, drink orange juice, or eat oranges after meals. If the intestinal tract is not functioning properly, drink a large glass of orange juice upon wakening in the morning, or about one-half hour before breakfast. In the cases of stomach acid deficiency, start the meal with a peeled orange or a glass of orange juice.

Those who suffer from tooth decay or poor gums are probably lacking in vitamin C and should drink large amounts of orange juice for a period of a few weeks. People with gastric and duodenal ulcers are deficient in ascorbic acid, and their diet should be supplemented with a high potency vitamin C such as that found in fresh oranges and orange juice.

Orange are very good for elimination. They stir up the acid accumulations and catarrhal settlements in the body very quickly. However, sometimes this is not a good idea if the channels of elimination, such as skin and kidneys, are not able to take out these acids fast enough.

Eat the whole orange, excluding the very outer skin, to get all the good from the fruit. The luscious orange is rated tops in importance in the contribution to health.

NUTRIENTS IN ONE POUND

Calories: 164

Protein: 2.9g

Fat: 0.7 g

Carbohydrates: 36.6 g

Calcium: 108 mg

Phosphorus: 75 mg

Iron: 1.3 mg

Vitamin A: 9101 I.U.

Thiamine: .25mg

Riboflavin: .08 mg

Niacin: .08 mg

Ascorbic acid: 162 mg