Citron Magritte

Possibly the most fabulous delivery from a publisher, ever! This is a citron (cedron in Italian) sent to publicise a forthcoming book on the Italian love affair with citrus: The Land Where Lemons Grow by Helena Atlee.

The author managed to track down an orchard that grew citrons in Amalfi and had a batch sent to the UK. Citrons are big and very old: "They were the first species of citrus tree to reach Europe; today, citrus is a huge genus with an incalculable membership and yet originally the citron, the pomelo and the mandarin were the only species of citrus in the world... The citron's skin and pith are so thick that there is space inside for only a spoonful or two of flesh... They originated in the foothills of the Himalayas."

I suspect that this citron will feature in my Blips again this week. Here, my colleague Allegra is modelling the fruit a la Magritte.