Lemons with Seeds–STILL (why?)

[Paul Bacino]

They bug the crap out of me!!

WE have seedless grapes, oranges , watermelons.

Why is the large part of the batch lemons still have seeds

Just curious

Paul

[weinoo]

But isn't one of the problems with (at least) seedless grapes and watermelons that they don't taste quite as delicious as their older counterparts?

Maybe since not many people actually eat lemons (certainly not like they eat grapes, oranges and watermelons) out of hand, the cost/benefit isn't worth it.

[HungryC]

Even a "seedless" variety of citrus can have seeds, if it is grown in close proximity with different varieties of other citrus.  Satsumas are usually seedless, but in my little orchard, they're mixed with lemons, limes, and oranges.  So they're terribly seedy, thanks to the cross pollination.  C'est la vie....you can buy a hand press that catches seeds, or you can get the little cheesecloth lemon covers to keep seeds out of your drinks, food, etc.  Like this:  http://www.amazon.com/Regency-Stretch-Wraps-Halves-Wedges/dp/B0000VLIUA

[Darienne]

It's been a long time since we had an orange with seeds in it, but as for the seedless Navel oranges...I would really like to know how to pick one that is tasty. They range from delicious to about as bland as you can get without being real cardboard, and how to tell which is likely to be which seems impossible. Is this a result of there being no seeds in the oranges???

[annabelle]

I just pop them our with the tip of a paring knife.

Easy-peasy.

[weinoo]

It's been a long time since we had an orange with seeds in it, but as for the seedless Navel oranges...I would really like to know how to pick one that is tasty. They range from delicious to about as bland as you can get without being real cardboard, and how to tell which is likely to be which seems impossible. Is this a result of there being no seeds in the oranges???

No - more likely the result of being picked too unripe or the disease that threatens the orange industry, called citrus greening.

[HungryC]

I don't think citrus greening has anything to do with flavorless fruit. Greening can kill a tree, and everyone's so freaked about greening, infected trees are being destroyed as soon as they're identified. So I doubt any fruit from greening sickness trees are making it to market. Many factors (rainfall/irrigation amounts, tree health, hours of sunshine, cold weather near time of harvest, soil/terroir, etc) determine the fruit's flavor. Some oranges have colored peels before the fruit is fully ripe, other varieties have greenish peels yet the fruit is at peak quality. It's agriculture, not manufacturing, ya know?

[Paul Bacino]

It's been a long time since we had an orange with seeds in it, but as for the seedless Navel oranges...I would really like to know how to pick one that is tasty. They range from delicious to about as bland as you can get without being real cardboard, and how to tell which is likely to be which seems impossible. Is this a result of there being no seeds in the oranges???

Though.. not infaliable

From the markets, general, I try to stick with Sunkist!! Name brands.

I know otherways to source products. But

Fruit that is heavy for the size, I like a terxtured skin and fairly thick skin.

Actually the one I'm eating now, has great acidity, orange taste and no dry cell !! Love it..

Cheers

Edited January 8, 2014 by Paul Bacino (log)

[jmolinari]

I just pop them our with the tip of a paring knife.

Easy-peasy.

Lemon squeezy?

[&roid]

This is something that's bugged me for a while. Lemon seeds are a pain in the proverbial. All methods for dodging them have flaws - they're either unreliable (flicking seeds out first with a knife - always miss some, squeezing into my left hand to catch them, etc) or too cumbersome (digging out a tea strainer/sieve, muslin, etc).

What I've never known is why limes never have seeds and lemons always do?

[heidih]

Seedless lemons exist - example http://www.melissas.com/Products/Products/seedless-lemons.aspx

There must be industry cost factors that favor the standard seeded ones.

[dcarch]

I am happy that we have seedless bananas. :-)

I need GMO companies to do some research and come up with seedless pomegranates.

dcarch

[Kerry Beal]

I am happy that we have seedless bananas. :-)

I need GMO companies to do some research and come up with seedless pomegranates.

dcarch

Here you go.

[jsager01]

This is something that's bugged me for a while. Lemon seeds are a pain in the proverbial. All methods for dodging them have flaws - they're either unreliable (flicking seeds out first with a knife - always miss some, squeezing into my left hand to catch them, etc) or too cumbersome (digging out a tea strainer/sieve, muslin, etc).

What I've never known is why limes never have seeds and lemons always do?

try one of these

http://www.lekue.es/es/exprimidor-de-limones-1-unidad-3401100

[Special K]

What I've never known is why limes never have seeds and lemons always do?

According to this website: http://www.yumsugar.com/Burning-Question-Why-Dont-Limes-Have-Seeds-3281585, limes are parthenocarpic, meaning they are naturally seedless. Who knew?

[&roid]

try one of these

http://www.lekue.es/es/exprimidor-de-limones-1-unidad-3401100

Sorry, just like tea strainers, muslin, etc that's too cumbersome - it annoys me enough that I can't just crack a lemon like I do an egg, there's no way I'm getting something else out of the drawer as well as a knife!

According to this website: http://www.yumsugar.com/Burning-Question-Why-Dont-Limes-Have-Seeds-3281585, limes are parthenocarpic, meaning they are naturally seedless. Who knew?

cool, still not quite sure I understand though - the article says that parthenocarpic plants don't require the flowers to be pollenated to produce fruit... not sure why that means the fruit doesn't have seeds in it? How does a lime do the job of growing into another lime tree if it doesn't have seeds?

[Panaderia Canadiense]

According to this website: http://www.yumsugar.com/Burning-Question-Why-Dont-Limes-Have-Seeds-3281585, limes are parthenocarpic, meaning they are naturally seedless. Who knew?

cool, still not quite sure I understand though - the article says that parthenocarpic plants don't require the flowers to be pollenated to produce fruit... not sure why that means the fruit doesn't have seeds in it? How does a lime do the job of growing into another lime tree if it doesn't have seeds?

Fully parthenocarpic fruit require no pollination (this goes back to the bananas, the edible cultivars of which are pollen-sterile triploids). This means that there are no seeds, because seeds are the result of pollination. However, limes are not strictly parthenocarpic (they can produce fruit with no pollination, but they can also do it with a pollen partner) so they're also not strictly seedless. Here in Ecuador, they're generally seedier than lemons.

The other thing about limes, though, is that they require a pollen partner that's sufficiently genetically divergent from them in order to set seeds (meaning they can't self-pollinate) - and here at least, export quality limes are grown in plantations where every tree is a clone of a single mother. That's not enough genetic difference for them to produce fruit sexually, so they produce fruit asexually instead. In these cases, to answer your question, the trees aren't producing fruit to create another lime tree; instead they're fulfilling the imperative of not wasting flowers.

[judiu]

jsager01, that website also comes in English; see top left area. Cool stuff!

[jsager01]

jsager01, that website also comes in English; see top left area. Cool stuff!

sorry, i was just using the url on my invoice for several other stuff that i bought from them ... i am in EU.

[Mottmott]

Those yellow plastic things with juice in them should do the trick.

[Smithy]

It's been a long time since we had an orange with seeds in it, but as for the seedless Navel oranges...I would really like to know how to pick one that is tasty. They range from delicious to about as bland as you can get without being real cardboard, and how to tell which is likely to be which seems impossible. Is this a result of there being no seeds in the oranges???

It has nothing to do with the oranges' being seedless. My father raised citrus - mostly, but not entirely, navel oranges. We always lamented the fact that the fruit suffered on its way through the packing house, and never tasted as good as fresh off the tree. I have been pleasantly surprised at the occasional Really Good navel out of the grocery store in oh, the last decade, so there may have been improvements in the handling and shipping and storage chain since then.

Unfortunately, "get it off the tree" isn't practical for most of us. Here's what else I can tell you: first, and also not very helpful, some varieties of navel orange are better than others. Dad got fed up with one variety that had been very highly touted as being hardy and early to ripen, but turned out to be relatively bland. That information probably is useless, however: just try finding out which variety of orange you're buying, and see how far you get. I have that problem with summer stone fruit purchases.

Second, and most useful: try to sniff the oranges before you buy. There is a distinct aroma of "fresh" vs "tired" that, once you learn it, will steer you clear of tired, flat oranges, clementines, minneolas, and so on. I don't know how to describe it, unfortunately; it isn't rot, it isn't fungus; it's just some missing or deteriorated high note. In addition, of course, there's the usual "heft test": fruit should feel heavy for its size. The sniff test, btw, seems to work best on the sweet citrus. I never detect that sort of flatness with lemons or limes, but it's obvious with those fruit I named as well as grapefruit.

Back to lemons with seeds: I generally use a squeezer, but a mesh tea strainer catches the little devils otherwise. Those yellow plastic thingies claiming to contain lemon juice never come into my house! :-)

Edited to correct the inevitable misspellings.

Edited January 10, 2014 by Smithy (log)

[Alex]

I just pop them our with the tip of a paring knife.

Easy-peasy.

Lemon squeezy?

The spirits are about to speak.

Lemon seeds are only a very minor annoyance for me, but I found this an interesting question purely from a scientific standpoint.

[grains of paradise]

Please don't encourage any more fiddling around with our food.

[FauxPas]

Paul, you are not alone! Here is one link to a video by Chef Seamus Mullen, who suggests cutting away the sides and leaving the centre (which is where almost all of the seeds are). It's not a bad method if you have lots of lemons and don't want to waste too much time.

 

http://lifehacker.com/chop-lemons-into-five-pieces-for-easy-juicing-1533998925

 

Here's another way of doing the same thing:

 

https://www.stellaculinary.com/podcasts/video/cks-14-how-seed-cut-lemon-wedges

 

  

[huiray]

Paul, you are not alone! Here is one link to a video by Chef Seamus Mullen, who suggests cutting away the sides and leaving the centre (which is where almost all of the seeds are). It's not a bad method if you have lots of lemons and don't want to waste too much time.

 

http://lifehacker.com/chop-lemons-into-five-pieces-for-easy-juicing-1533998925

 

Here's another way of doing the same thing:

 

https://www.stellaculinary.com/podcasts/video/cks-14-how-seed-cut-lemon-wedges

 

  

 

That Seamus Mullen way is not new.  It's the (old) common way of cutting limes in SE Asia. See here for an example.