Last weekend I bought some lemons in
Payless. They were nice large ones and
cost about P1.25 each - hardly an earthshattering
pronouncement, I know, but bear
with me.

Our local citrus trees fruit in winter so they’re bang in season right now, which
doesn’t really gel with my perception of them
as exotic, warm-climate trees. They originate
from southern Europe and the Mediterranean
region but are now grown all over the world
where the sun shines – the southern US, Australia,
South America and India. And as farmers
everywhere love to moan about the weather,
it wouldn’t be a Florida orange season without
at least one sob story about an unseasonal frost
killing off their crop, would it? So I’m not
quite sure how that fits with citrus-growing
here and in South Africa where Jack Frost nips
quite nastily in June and July, and yet our citrus
trees are groaning with bountiful goodness.
Perhaps those Florida farmers are just growing
the wrong varieties?
Anyway, that’s their business – literally – and
no concern of mine. I simply want to ask all of
you, who do have citrus trees in their gardens,
why don’t you appreciate that natural bounty,
gather it in and do something with it? Everyone
is bemoaning the on-going recession and
the rising cost of the weekly shopping basket
yet all over our fair city, the citrus crop goes
unharvested and uneaten. Everywhere I go in
the suburbs I see trees full of fruit just going
to waste and it really bugs me. Citrus fruits
are full of Vitamin C, so good for warding off
colds and ‘flu yet so many people would rather
pop into their local pharmacy and buy and a
packet of expensive vitamin supplements than
simply include more free-of-charge citrus fruit
into their diet. Half a grapefruit for breakfast
and freshly-squeezed orange juice, or a naartjie
and spinach salad dressed with oil and lemon
juice vinaigrette for lunch or supper - delicious.
And what of putting up some pots of lemon
curd or marmalade for when the citrus season
is over? What is the mentality of people who
simply let the fruit fall from the trees and rot
on the ground?
If you’re one of the culprits and your answer
is that you just don’t know what to do with it
all, here’s a suggestion. Get your gardener to
pick a few kilos every day, put it on a small
table outside the gate and sell to passers-by. A
50-thebe home-grown lemon beats P1.25 in the
supermarket and makes you a little money at the
same time. Or parcel them up in small bags and
send the gardener round the neighbourhood,
giving them out as gifts. Even though you have
more than you need, your neighbours may not
and your random act of kindness will do wonders
for local relationships and your standing
in the community. And if you’re not inclined
to cook the surplus yourself, give your maid a
cook book and let her boil up some marmalade
or fruit curd while you’re at work. Then sell that
or give it away, whichever suits you best. Just
please, please stop wasting all that wonderful,
God-given goodness.
I recently shared an elaborate, multi-course
restaurant dinner with, among others, a native
of Kanye who declined any and all of the fish
and seafood courses. His reason, he said, was
that because Kanye has no fishing industry, fish
is such an alien food to him that he not only
wouldn’t eat it but couldn’t, as it made him
physically ill. I don’t doubt his reaction for a
moment but I think he may have misdiagnosed
the cause. Pretty much everything on our table
today is imported, bar our local beef. We do have
a small arable sector but farmers face a running
battle with irregular rain patterns and poor soil
and local produce is generally not of really good
quality. Fair to say, then, that if you come from
Kanye, or almost anywhere else in Botswana,
fresh produce, including freshly-caught fish is
fairly hard to come by so we live on imports and
just because we weren’t weaned on a particular
foodstuff doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try it. But
there are a few people who are allergic to certain
items, fish and seafood among them and
I suspect my dining companion may not have
realised that his physical aversion is an actual
allergic reaction, not a mental block.
For the rest of us, fish with its Omega 3 heartprotective
properties, should absolutely be on
our menus at least once a week, preferably with
a generous squeeze of home-grown lemon juice.
E-mail me dallasnash@yahoo.com