Menton lemon

Citron de Menton

What it is

Lemons have been grown on the terraces above Menton since the fourteenth century, the town has held its Fête du Citron every year since 1934, and the IGP was granted in 2015. The fruit is elliptical rather than round, modest in acid and heavy in essential oil: the peel is what you are buying.

In the kitchen

Use it whole, peel and all — sliced raw into a salad or confit, where an ordinary lemon's pith would turn the dish bitter. That thick skin also keeps it: a fortnight unwrapped in a cool room, against a few days for a supermarket lemon.

Goes with

Olive oil Sea bass White sugar Almond Vanilla Fleur de sel de Guérande Basil Ricotta

Same species

Bergamot Candied citron Chenpi Citron Makrut lime Dried lime

In season alongside

Meyer lemon Seville orange Blood orange Clementine Kumquat Buddha's hand

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