Best Bites #7: Buddha's Hand Citron aka Lemon Gone Wild

Buddha's Hand Lemon - your key to victory in any shadow puppet contest 

Behold the Buddha's Hand Citron or Buddha's Hand Lemon. By far it's the freakiest lemon I've ever seen! Traditionally used in Asia as aromatic offerings at temples, this monstrous looking fruit was on the list of the 101 best bites in Vancouver, so we slayed the freaky dragon lemon and had a go.

Interestingly, the lemon has no juice! It's all pith inside, so basically you have the peel to work with and that's it! Gotta admit, this lemon gets even freakier looking when you cut it in half. C'mon if that's not a monster hand I don't know what is!

Anyway, being determined to take advantage of ol' monstery, I zested it, thinly sliced it and steeped it in warm water. Then from the spoils I made a lemon tart, lemon pasta with a lemon, white wine sauce, lemon shrimp, salad with thin slices of Buddha's hand, and had the option of Buddha's hand "tea" with the steeped lemon water.

The Buddha's hand lemon has a very perfumy aroma, and is much more subtle than a regular lemon. If you're the type of person that enjoys rose ice cream for example, you'd probably like the Buddha's hand lemon.

Without juice and that traditional lemon punch, I actually had to boost most of my recipes with good old fashioned 99 cent lemons. The aroma of the Buddha's hand was still there, but honestly it didn't add so much that I would buy it again.

Also note if you want to make the "tea", I suggest just using the lemon peel. If you steep the water with chunks of the pithy Buddha's hand like I did, you're going to be left with a very bitter drink. Blech!

To summarize - this lemon is good for Halloween as a way to scare any children you know. Also, if you are a trust fund baby that has a taste for perfume and money to burn - go right ahead. Mostly though, I suggest smelling this weird looking fruit in the produce section and then bagging up some tried and true lemon lemons.

Best Bites summary: 101 bites, 7 tasted, 5 loved, 2 cringed at

Happy Eating!
xo
Jenny C