Cooking Corner by Various Authors

By Peter Rowe

TEMECULA — When life hands you lemons by the millions, make lemonade.

Then have your caterer make a lemon dressing for a garbanzo bean salad; lemon gremolata for the lemon-grilled chicken; and lemon creme bržlee. At a recent lunch hosted by farmer Scott McIntyre, there were lemon slices in pitchers of iced water, lemon zest in butter pats and lemons in the trees on the hills ringing his home.

McIntyre's Sierra Pacific Farms owns or manages roughly 500,000 lemon trees on 6,000 scattered acres, from Santa Barbara County to the Mexican border. This tangy empire makes him California's second-largest lemon producer, and Southern California's single greatest producer of Meyer lemons. Still, it would be unfair to call him single-minded. The 90-acre orchard surrounding his house west of Temecula includes 50 acres of avocados.

For now. In the next year, he plans to bulldoze 10 acres of avocados and replace them with a tartier, more lucrative crop.

"We are very bullish on Meyer lemons," he said.

Citrus has been a popular treat for 6,000 years, when historians believe humans began snacking on oranges. A leader in this field for a century, California now grows tons of citrus. The Golden State and Arizona account for 95 out of every 100 lemons sold in the United States. While orchards are more common in a broad belt between Santa Barbara and Temecula, San Diego County still has 14,650 acres devoted to lemons, oranges, tangerines and other citrus. In 2008, the latest year for which statistics are available, the local crop was worth $64.6 million.

In the kitchen, these fruits are irresistible. "We have found that the citrus is so much better tasting than any of the other winter fruits we can use to make our tarts," said Katie Grebow, chef at San Diego's Cafe Chloe.

But mighty, sweet, colorful forces are sweeping some less ordinary citrus fruits into our produce aisles and restaurant menus. The rising costs of water, land and labor are key factors, but so is the fact that consumers hunger for bright colors and flavors.

"We as Americans tend to gravitate more toward sweet things than tart things," said Jeff Jackson, executive chef at A.R. Valentien in La Jolla, Calif.

The sweetness in citrus, though, is balanced by natural acids. The result: a natural flavor enhancer, like salt, but without sodium's heart-taxing properties.

"If you introduce an acid to a dish, it tightens the flavors," said Jill Davie, chef de cuisine at Los Angeles' Josie restaurant and a regular Food Network guest. "It gives you fresh and fragrant smells and flavors."

While this is true of all citrus, farmers, chefs and consumers are turning away from some traditional varieties in favor of less familiar crops. Of these rising stars, none shines brighter than Scott McIntyre's beloved Meyer lemon.

This is the Meyer's second shot at success in America. A Chinese varietal, the lemon was introduced to the West in 1908. Lower in acid, softer, juicier and sweeter than your common household Eureka lemon, the Meyers quickly built a devoted following. They were even popular among pickers. Trees rarely grow taller than 5 feet, so harvesting is a no-muss, no-fuss, no-ladder affair.

Then came a disturbing discovery: The Meyer lemon trees carried a virus that killed other citrus trees.

Farmers moved with speed and without mercy. Entire orchards were uprooted, whole crops sacrificed. In agricultural circles, the Meyer was treated like a politician's youthful indiscretion — maybe it was a hoot back in the day, but could we burn the evidence and never speak of this again, please?

Then in 1975, the University of California certified a virus-free Meyer tree.

This lemon began a slow trek back to acceptance, respectability and trendiness. Today, the Meyer is championed by lifestyle maven Martha Stewart and celebrity chef Alice Waters. Sunkist, the cooperative whose thousands of growers include McIntyre, recently exported its first Meyer shipment to Japan. And last month, Meyers perked up an Alaskan king crab and cucumber roulade served by James Kent and Tom Allan in a critical New York competition.

Kent and Allan won and will represent the United States in January in France, competing for the Bocuse d'Or.

This time, then, the Meyer seems destined for a brilliant future. But most citrus growers are cautious types, as befits people whose livelihoods are held hostage by climate, insects and a force even more erratic: human nature.

"We have to grow something that consumers want to buy," said Gary McMillan, a 40-year veteran of Temecula agriculture. These days, he's raising grapefruit: deep, dark red grapefruit — and none of the white varieties.

"If I were blind, I probably couldn't tell the difference," he said. "They may not taste any different, but they have greater eye appeal."

Not everyone agrees. At Cafe Chloe, Chef Grebow prefers the pale Oro Blanco type: "It seems to me sweeter."

But this is a minority view. Jim Meeks, who tracks grapefruit sales for Sunkist, said the shift away from white grapefruit has been accelerating for 10 years. In 2010, the co-op expects to market more than 3.5 million 32-pound boxes of red grapefruit, but only 60,000 boxes of the white varieties.

Sudden shifts in consumer preference are among the concerns nagging Larry Weaver, Sierra Pacific's vice president. There's also the Asian citrus psyllid, a pest that can carry Huanglongbing (HLB), a tree killer for which there's no treatment or cure.

"We are fearfully afraid of that creature," he said.

Psyllids have been found in San Diego, Imperial, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties. To date, none were carrying HLB.

So McIntyre, who planted his first Meyer lemons just three years ago, keeps expanding his Meyer groves, singing the fruit's sweet and sour praises.

"We've seen incredible demand for them grow in the last four or five years," he said. "In restaurants now, you won't see a Eureka lemon tart. But you will see a Meyer lemon tart."

That's true in many high-end restaurants — and on Scott McIntyre's patio.

GARBANZO BEAN SALAD WITH LEMON DRESSING

SALAD

3 (14-ounce) cans garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

5 to 6 garlic cloves, minced

1 bunch green onions, chopped

Zest of 1 lemon

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

1 jalapeno, seeded and minced (optional)

1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed (optional)

1 red bell pepper, chopped, (optional)

1 (28-ounce) can green beans, drained and rinsed (optional)

1 cup frozen corn, thawed, (optional)

Chopped fennel (optional)

2 cups cooked whole grain pasta (optional)

DRESSING

1 shallot, minced

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon honey

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon cumin

1 to 2 tablespoons red wine or cider vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

1Ú4 to 1Ú2 cup oil

Makes 4 servings

In a large bowl, combine the salad ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk together all the dressing ingredients except the oil. Slowly whisk in the oil until well blended. Toss dressing with salad.

— From Sunkist

Peter Rowe writes about food for The San Diego Union-Tribune.

COPYRIGHT 2010 THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE.

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