LEMONS
• Christopher Columbus introduced citrus trees to the island of Haiti in 1493 during his second voyage. • The demand for lemons and their scurvy-preventing properties hit a peak during the California Gold Rush of 1849. Miners were willing to pay huge sums for a single lemon. As a result, lemon trees were planted in abundance throughout California. • Today, California and Arizona produce 95% of the entire U.S. lemon crop. California produces more lemons than all of Europe. • Lemons are technically berries, as are oranges, watermelons, and tomatoes.
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• Lemon juice is about 5 percent citric acid, making it a natural for slowing the browning or oxidation of fresh, raw foods: apples, avocados, bananas, and other fruits. • When given a choice of orange, grapefruit, peaches, apples, or lemon, cattle will eat lemons first. This is thought to be because the citric acid in lemons aids in digestion. • Before juicing, roll a room-temperature lemon under your palm to break down the cells inside the fruit that hold liquid. If a fruit is especially hard, microwave it for 20 seconds. The average lemon holds about 3 tablespoons of juice and has about 8 seeds. • In 2003, the heaviest lemon ever grown was recorded in Kefar Zeitim, Israel. It weighed just over 11.5 pounds, had a circumference of 29 inches, and was 13.7 inches long.
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Weekly SUDOKU
• You've doubtless heard of peak oil -- that theoretical point at which the global production of oil reaches its maximum output, after which production gradually declines decline -but what about peak poultry? Those who study such things say that the world hit its peak production of chicken for human consumption in 2006. • The first canned meat product, known as Hormel Spiced Ham, was developed in 1937. Several imitators followed, and the executives at the Hormel Company, concerned about the new competition, decided to have a competition to rename the product. The winner, Broadway actor Kenneth Daigneau (and brother to the company's vice president), won $100 for the winning entry: Spam. *** Thought for the Day: "A good speech should be like a woman's skirt: long enough to cover the subject and short enough to create interest." -- Winston Churchill
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• It was American poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox who made the following sage observation: "To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men." • During the Victorian era, a well-dressed gentleman was never outdoors without a hat, and most had different hats for different occasions. Of course, the cost of such haberdashery could mount significantly, so one enterprising British soul registered a design (which was much less expensive than registering a patent) for a "duplex hat" -an elaborate contraption that, by means of hidden springs, could convert from a top hat to a bowler hat to suit the circumstances. • Before you ink yourself, you might want to consider this: The cost of removing an unwanted tattoo can be up to 10 times as much as it cost to get the tattoo in the first place. • If you're like the average American parent, your kids get $3.40 from the tooth fairy for each tooth lost.
King CROSSWORD
by Samantha Weaver
• Although lemon trees need lots of sunshine and cannot tolerate killing frosts, they grow surprisingly well in poor soil, even in sandy soils. Lemon trees bloom and produce fruit year-round. Each tree can produce between 500 and 600 pounds of lemons in a year, which amounts to up to 3,000 lemons annually.