When a Sweet Victory Turns Sour

When a Sweet Victory Turns Sour was Originally Posted on April 8, 2013 by lavarock

A century ago, the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) sent an “explorer” around the world to collect significant seeds to the U.S. In all he introduced 2500 plants. Frank Nicholas Meyer worked for a little know office of the USDA called the “Office of Seed and Plant Introduction” and scoured the world looking for items to send back.

Mr. Meyer died in 1918 in China under mysterious circumstances and it may have been due to the political situation there at the time.

A fruit was named after Mr. Meyer, the Meyer lemon. The Meyer is not the one you commonly find in the supermarket; that would be the Eureka which grows year round and is very abundant. The Meyer is more a cross between a lemon and an orange or perhaps a mandarin. It is not so sour as a Eureka and has a thinner skin, thus not as easily shipped. because of that, it is not as commonly found in markets.

The Meyer was discovered in 1908 and became popular in California. In the 1940’s it was found that the trees were harboring a virus that was killing or made useless for production, citrus trees all over the world. Most of the Meyer lemon trees were destroyed.

In 1950 a variety of the Meyer was found that was disease free and was soon named the “Improved Meyer Lemon”.

As chefs such as Alice Waters and Martha Stewart began touting their flavor, they are now easier to find.

The Meyer Lemon was named after the famous fruit explorer!