There is nothing quite so evocative of sunny climates as the burst of enlivening flavours delivered by citrus fruits.  

Whether it’s a squirt of lemon over fresh grilled fish, lime juice in a margarita, a spoonful of pink grapefruit in the morning or a segment of succulent orange after a dive, citrus fruits bring to mind a feeling of health, wellbeing and energy. 

It is no wonder these juicy, sometimes sharp, sometimes sweet fruits have been enjoyed for centuries. High in vitamin C, citrus fruits have been used to treat and prevent colds, improve digestion, and for other medicinal purposes. Generations of sailors have relied on citrus fruit to prevent the onset of scurvy, caused by a deficiency of vitamin C. 

As in many Caribbean islands, citrus fruits are cultivated by Cayman’s farmers, although local crops were dealt a severe blow by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, a disaster from which growers are still recovering. 

At Mr Willie’s Farm in North Side, oranges, limes, lemons and grapefruits used to be grown, but now there is only a crop of Key limes. Zelma-Lee Ebanks, who runs the farm with her husband Willie, says they aim to replant the citrus trees. 

“The Key lime trees are coming back. So, far we haven’t replaced the orange or grapefruit we lost in Ivan,” says Zelma-Lee. “We used to have grapefruit and oranges and lemons and tangerines.” 

Hurricanes are not the only threat to citrus fruit. 

Joel Walton, who runs Plantation House Organic Gardens in Bodden Town, believes one of the challenges in growing citrus in Cayman is that the islands’ soil is alkaline, whereas slightly acidic soils are preferable for these fruits.  

“Therefore, our citrus suffers terribly from ‘minor element (micro nutrient) deficiency’ due to this PH imbalance, which restricts the plants’ ability to extract much needed ‘micros’ from the soil naturally,” Joel explains. “This deficiency needs to be corrected by the addition of nutrients, such as boron, manganese, iron, magnesium, through regular foliar feeds or soil drenches, unless you are able to correct your soil’s PH through the addition of peat, compost, sulphur, or some combination thereof, which will allow the plant to uptake these ‘micros’ from the surrounding soil on its own. However, these modified soils will revert to alkaline in time due to the high levels of lime found in our native soils.”  

Joel adds that even if you are successful in combating the alkalinity of the soil, citrus trees still face numerous problems. 

“These range from leaf miners, thrips, scale insects, mites, and more recently, citrus canker since most citrus plants in Cayman were imported, until recently, from Florida where the disease has been devastating in recent times,” he says. “To help protect the small amount of citrus that is left in these islands, the Department of Agriculture continues to have a citrus plant import ban for Florida and most other countries. Cayman citrus plant imports now come from Jamaica and to a lesser extent, from California, but under strict conditions.” 

At Plantation House, Joel grows oranges, of the Valencia, navel, pineapple and Seville variety; tangerines; ortaniques (a hybrid of orange and tangerine); ugli (a hybrid of grapefruit, orange and tangerine); Meyers, pink, rough and improved Meyers lemons; Key, West Indian and Tahitian/Persian limes; and oro blanco grapefruit.  

He says he only grows limited quantities of most of these fruits because “Cayman conditions are not ideal for citrus in general and growing them is a long slog with limited success”, but since lemons and limes tend to fare better than others, he cultivates these in commercial quantities and supplies restaurants on island, Market at The Grounds and individual buyers directly from his garden. 

The best time of year to plant citrus fruits in Cayman is between October and February, when the temperatures are cooler and the plants get the benefit of the end of the rainy season, Joel advises.  

“This will help the plants to a good start and allow the trees to strengthen for the oncoming summer and hurricane season as citrus is a shallow-rooted species and tends to blow over easily even during heavy rains,” says Joel. “In general, citrus prefers a combination of slightly acidic soils and sub-tropical (and semi) climatic conditions. For example, temperatures below 45 degrees Fahrenheit will greatly assist in the change of skin colour on oranges and tangerines, although lemons/limes will change their skin colour in Cayman conditions.” 

The history of citrus fruits dates back many centuries. Most citrus fruits are believed to have originated in India and South East Asia and were brought to the Middle East and Africa by Arabic traders, before they were exported to Europe. The introduction of citrus fruits, including oranges, lemons and limes, to the Americas is credited to Christopher Columbus, who is believed to have brought seeds or saplings of the plants with him to Hispaniola - now Haiti and the Dominican Republic - on his second voyage to the New World in 1493.   

The best time of year to plant citrus fruits in Cayman is between October and February, when the temperatures are cooler and the plants get the benefit of the end of the rainy season, Joel advises. 

Lemon  

At first, lemons were cultivated as ornamental fruit and were not generally eaten until the 10th century. After Arabic traders introduced the lemon to Spain around the 11th century, the fruit became widely cultivated in the Mediterranean. Crusaders returning from Palestine are believed to have brought lemons to the rest of Europe. After Columbus introduced lemon seeds to the New World, the fruit spread to the United States, where they have been growing since the mid 1700s. 

The average yield per lemon tree is approximately 1500 lemons a year. Lemons are a rich source of vitamins A, B and C and also contain iron and calcium.  

Lime  

References to limes, the smallest of the citrus family, have appeared in ancient Arabic and Indian writings.  

There are three basic types of lime - Tahitian, Mexican, and Key limes. Tahitian limes are large, have a pale, finely-grained pulp and are very acidic; Mexican limes are smaller, with bright green skins and an aromatic flavour; Key limes are a pale yellowish-green fruit, are very juicy and have a strong, sharp flavour.  

Limes are widely grown in the West Indies, where the British Navy gathered supplies to supplement their sailors’ rations to help prevent scurvy, which led to the nickname “Limeys”. Limes are high in vitamin C.  

Grapefruit  

Grapefruits are descendents of the orange and the pomelo, which is native to Malaysia and Indonesia. The original hybrid grapefruit was the size of an orange and was originally known as the “Forbidden Fruit” or “smaller shaddock”, possibly after a Captain Shaddock, who has been credited with bringing the seeds of the fruit to the West Indies. The grapefruit, so named because it grows in grape-like clusters, arrived in the United States in 1823, though the fruit did not become popular there until much later in that century. 

Initially, only yellow grapefruits were grown, and later pink and red grapefruit were discovered as mutations and developed by growers. In Jamaica, the grapefruit was crossbred with the tangerine and the orange to produce the sweeter ugli. Grapefruit is rich in vitamin C and potassium, while pink grapefruit is rich in vitamin A, and acts as a natural antioxidant.  

Orange  

Orange trees require lots of sunlight to grow and thrive in warmer areas. They are widely grown throughout the Caribbean, and in California and Florida in the United States.  

The orange, now known for its succulent sweetness, was originally a sour fruit growing wild in China and is believed to have been cultivated by the Chinese as early as 2500 BC. Other horticultural historians say it originated in India and Myanmar. It is believed the Romans brought back oranges from India in the 1st century AD. The fruit also found its way to northern Africa and it is likely the Moors brought oranges with them to southern Spain in the 8th or 9th century. By the 1200s, orange groves extended from Seville to Granada, as well as regions of Portugal. Seedlings of the orange reached Panama with the Spanish in 1516 and Mexico shortly afterwards. At about the same time, the Portuguese were planting sweet oranges in their South American colony of Brazil. 

There are two types of orange trees: the bitter orange tree and the sweet orange tree. The fruit of the sweet orange tree contains vitamins A, B and C, as well as potassium.