Citron

The citron (Citrus medica), historically cedrate, is a large fragrant citrus fruit with a thick rind. It is said to resemble a 'huge, rough lemon'. It is one of the original citrus fruits from which all other citrus types developed through natural hybrid speciation or artificial hybridization. Though citron cultivars take on a wide variety of physical forms, they are all closely related genetically. It is used in Asian cuisine, traditional medicines, perfume, and religious rituals and offerings. Hybrids of citrons with other citrus are commercially more prominent, notably lemons and many limes. The fruit's English name "citron" derives ultimately from Latin, citrus, which is also the origin of the genus name. A source of confusion is that citron in French and English are false friends, as the French word refers to the lemon, while the English word is translated cédrat. Indeed, into the 16th century, the English name citron included the lemon and perhaps the lime as well. Other languages that use variants of citron to refer to the lemon include Armenian, Czech, Dutch, Finnish, German, Latvian, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Esperanto, Polish and the Scandinavian languages. In Italian it is known as cedro, the same name used also to indicate the coniferous tree cedar. Similarly, in Latin, citrus, or thyine wood referred to the wood of a North African cypress, Tetraclinis articulata. In Indo-Iranian languages, it is called , as against ('bitter orange'). Both names were borrowed into Arabic and introduced into Spain and Portugal after their occupation by Muslims in AD 711, whence the latter became the source of the name orange through rebracketing (and the former of 'toronja' and 'toranja', which today describe the grapefruit in Spanish and Portuguese respectively). Dutch merchants seasonally import Sukade for baked goods; a thick, light green coloured commercially candied half peeling from Indonesia and other countries (sukade – Indonesian word for love, Citrus médica variety 'Macrocárpa'), which can reach 2.5 kilograms mass.