It wasn’t too long ago, the humble lemon was relegated primarily to being tied up in a swatch of cloth for squeezing on fish or juiced for lemonade. Both are respectable uses, although a complete underutilization for such a flavor family of citrus.
The trends of citrus in recent years have stressed varietals. Meyer lemons, cara cara oranges, kumquats, pomelos, kaffir limes all are leading a charge of increased interest in the subtleties of different citrus fruits. Health factors, too—whether it’s the use of citrus to provide bold bursts of flavor as substitutes for fat or sodium flavor carriers or the desire to raise the antioxidant or vitamin profile of a formulation—all come into play. And, of course, with an increasingly worldly consumer, exotic ethnic authenticity is better represented through using citrus fruits true to a recipe’s regional origins.