How to pick a good Lemon
Buying a sweet, mineral-rich lemon
Some
lemons are more sweet than others. A rule of thumb for selecting
a lemon that is both sweet and high in mineral content, is to
pick one that has a high specific gravity measurement and is
heavy for its size. By comparing equal-sized fruit, the one
with the greatest weight will have the most mineral content
and sugar. A thick skinned lemon will not be as heavy as a thin
skinned lemon and will not have the desired sweetness or mineral
content.
A good method to pick a sweet, mineral-rich lemon is to look at the
stem end of the lemon. There are two ends on the lemon. One
end has a point where the blossom started to grow; the other
end has a stem or a dimple where the stem used to be located.
On the stem end of a highly mineralized, sweet lemon, you will
see little lines radiating out of the stem like sunbeams. These
little lines can look like a star shaped structure and is called
a calyx. The calyx may have three, four, five or more points
to the star. The greater the number of points on the calyx,
the higher the mineral content of the lemon.