The particulars
Season
November–April
Picked
Picked ripe, shipped by road
Tastes of
Bright peel, clean acid, a little pith
Field notes
Spruce tips taste of lemon before they taste of forest, so adding the real thing felt less like a decision than an introduction. The two have been getting on well ever since.
Our lemons come from one family grove on the east coast of Sicily, picked through the winter and sent north by road. They are unwaxed and unsprayed after flowering, with thick, oily skins, which matters because we use the peel as much as the juice.
At the shed they are zested by hand and pressed the same morning. Zest goes into the spruce infusion for its last two hours, juice goes in at the very end, cold, at two per cent. Any more and the can would taste of lemonade, which is a different drink and somebody else’s business.
