I remember my first experience driving through a citrus grove in full bloom. I immediately fell in love – not with the boy who was driving, but with the heady, romantic perfume of those trees. I still react the same way, and I am not alone, for many a bride in the last century wore orange blossoms in her hair while walking down the aisle.
Citrus is grown around the world in tropical and sub-tropical areas. Some speculate that the first trees were cultivated in southern China, and much of the early literature from that region makes mention of these exotic fruits. Traders on the silk road brought the produce to the Middle East around 100-200 A.D. From there the Arabs transported fruit to southern Europe. The first orangeries were built by wealthy Romans who later took the concept to the British Isles, where the structures became very popular.
Read the entire article in the September 2004 issue