Consider the etrog, the oblong, yellow citrus fruit that plays a
central role in the rituals of the weeklong Sukkot festival.
Traditionally sold in a protective web of silky flax, it
commands a king’s ransom, prompting all manner of jokes about
whether this year’s citron would prove to be, metaphorically, a
lemon. At the end of the holiday, many households simply discard
the fruit. Some, however, transform it into the equivalent of a
spice box by sticking cloves into its pebbled skin. The more
adventurous make etrog jam or liqueur, or try their hand at
candying its inner rind. What American Jews don’t do, as a rule,
is to contemplate the etrog’s history. What a missed
opportunity, for the story of the etrog is lively and complex —
from its cultivation and distribution to its ritual importance
in modern Jewish life. It is a story that stretches from the
Greek island of Corfu to the Caribbean and Southern California.
It encompasses the cultivation of agriculture in the Holy Land
and the cultivation of ritual in