I’m not sure exactly why, but last weekend I was seriously craving for lemons. Lucky for me the cafe at the Book Fair sold lemon gelato and the grocery we went to sold lemon sorbet ice cream. Destiny!
I’ve always loved the zing and tang of lemon flavored food. Anything lemon, actually. I don’t know how that came about though, as the sibs aren’t big on sour food. I read somewhere that sour tasting food is our body’s animal instinct for Vitamin C. Maybe homo erectus munched on a citrus fruit while having a cold and immediately felt the snot disappear. When I was a child, in a choice between flavored vitamin c pills I’d take the lemon or lime ones.
At the book fair (Day 2 with Mom), I stopped by the cafe (Caffe Bene) before going in. My sister and I had been there before and she was bitterly disappointed to find the gelato wasn’t available. I was lucky, and obviously chose the lemon flavored one, and a mocha frap. These two really don’t go together, flavor-wise, but that was fine with me.
It was the smoothest gelato I’ve ever tasted, with a ripe balance of tangy and sweet that I really like. It melts in your mouth with none of the gritty ice bits that sometimes happens when slushies are misrepresented as “gelato”. I’m not the only one who likes this flavor though. It was the only flavor that was halfway sold out.
I had Mom taste some and she liked it too. She liked it so much that when I belatedly discovered my hands were full (gelato in one, frappe in another), I offered her the coffee. She said, nope! She’ll have the gelato, and we’ll just see each other after shopping.
The ice cream on the other hand, was from Day 1 of the bookfair. My sister and I passed by Rustan’s grocery where they featured the British brand, “Waitrose”.
I peaked in their ice cream box and saw Lemon Sorbet! The flavor here is much stronger than the gelato, and more sour. I guess the British consumer prefers their sorbet to be as real to the actual fruit as possible. As a result, I really don’t have competition for this ice cream in the family ref. I’m sure I can leave it there for weeks and no one (well except maybe Mom) will eat it.
Lemon is a flavor that I’ve learned never to say no to. Since I live in the tropics, lemons can only be imported here. Krispy Kreme has a rare seasonal lemon-filled donut that I always buy when it’s sold. I have vivid memories of Dunkin Donuts having that as a mainstay flavor along with Boston Kreme and Butternut. Alas, the flavor was discontinued eventually.
Is there such a thing as sour tooth, like people have a sweet tooth? Because Im pretty sure I have that.
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