Know Your Etrog
Level: Intermediate |
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The etrog, a fruit used in the rituals of the festival of
Sukkot, is not commonly seen in America. If
you haven't participated in the Sukkot rituals, then you have probably never
seen or held one. Even if you have seen one, chances are you haven't seen
what the fruit looks like on the inside, nor seen the tree it grows from.
This page discusses the etrog fruit and tree, with photographs of a whole
and dissected etrog fruit, an etrog tree and its leaves, flowers and thorns.
The etrog is a medium-sized citrus fruit, with a color, scent and taste similar
to a lemon. It is also known in English as the citron, though there is apparently
more than one variety of citron. This variety is identified in scientific
literature as the etrog citron. The etrog is used in the waving rituals of
the festival of Sukkot, where the etrog is
said to represent the heart (because of its shape), and also said to represent
the ideal kind of Jews, who have both knowledge of Torah and good deeds (because
it has both a pleasant scent and a pleasant taste). One
midrash suggests that the etrog, not the apple,
was the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Why, then, does the Western
world think that the fruit was the apple? Perhaps because the ancient Greeks
called this fruit the Persian apple, Median apple or golden apple.
 A typical etrog fruit is oblong shaped, four to six inches long
and has a bumpy rind. The Yemenite variety of etrog is larger, but looks
quite similar. The etrog in the pictures at left is the one I used during
Sukkot in 2005, and is quite typical of the ones used in America. It is almost
5 inches long. At its widest point, it is 2¾ inches wide. Some etrogs
have a narrowing in the center, like a waist, that is somewhat more green.
These are commonly referred to as "belted" etrogs. Belted etrogs are valid
for the mitzvah of the waving; in fact, some
people prefer them.
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 At one end of the etrog is the green stem that
connects the fruit to the tree, seen at right. At the other end, most etrogs
have an extension known in Jewish tradition as the pitam, seen below at left.
The knobby part of the pitam is the remnants of the part of the flower that
biologists would call the stigma, the part that receives pollen grains during
fertilization. It is somewhat rough to the touch in a mature etrog. The narrower
tube-like area connecting to the fruit is the remnants of the flower's style.
The fruit itself is the flower's ovary.
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 If your etrog has a pitam, as most do, then you must be
very careful not to break it off during the course of the holiday. If the
pitam breaks off, the etrog is considered to be damaged and no longer valid
for performing the mitzvah of waving. However, if the etrog grows naturally
without a pitam, it is valid. In fact, some people prefer pitamless etrogs,
because you don't have to worry about breaking off the pitam before the end
of the holiday!
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 The etrog is surprisingly light in weight
for its size, much lighter than you would expect for a comparably sized lemon.
This is because the etrog is mostly rind, with very little pulp or juice,
as you can see in the pictures at right and below. It also has a very large,
dense core, unlike more familiar citrus fruits. Like most citrus fruits,
the pulp area forms in segments, but the fruit is not easily separated into
segments. The skin separating these segments is not pliable, and not easily
separated from the core. Rather, the pulp must be scooped out from between
the segments if you want to eat it. More likely you would simply squeeze
out the juice. The rind is edible and is commonly candied. Note that most
recipes for candied citrus peel tell you to remove the white part of the
peel, but I usually candy that too, as most of the fruit is white part!
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 After I cut away all of the rind on this
etrog, leaving as much pulp as possible, I was left with a pulp and seed
core that was barely 2 inches long and 1½ inches wide.
Much of this fruity center is seeds; I harvested about 30 seeds from this
etrog. The seeds look much like other citrus seeds, see the picture below
left.
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The pulp is edible but quite sour, like a lemon. It looks much like any other
citrus pulp, see the picture above right, though the skin of the pulp is
somewhat more dense. With diligent squeezing, you can obtain a tablespoon
or two of etrog juice, too sour to drink but suitable for making a glass
or two of etrog-ade! |
 After
Sukkot 2002, I planted the seeds from the etrog I had used for the holiday
and one of the seeds grew into a tree. The etrog tree pictures on this page
are pictures of that tree, which is an annual guest in my sukkah. The pictures
show it as a two-week old seedling, as a one-year-old tree (about three feet
tall) and as a two-year-old tree (over four feet tall). It is currently three
years old and about six feet tall, but significantly yellowed from
underfertilization. I am working on doing a better job of fertilizing it,
and it is already looking greener than it did when I took the picture below
a few weeks ago.
I will not presume to give any advice on how to grow etrogs from seeds, because
I suspect my success is more due to persistence than to my technique. I'm
sure it is no different than growing any other citrus seed, and there are
certainly better places to get that information than on this site! Two things
I can tell you about caring for them once they sprout: don't overwater them
(wait until the soil begins to dry out), and don't underfertilize them.
I gather that it is not unusual for an etrog or other citrus trees to grow
multiple trunks, as this one did. For what it's worth, my second trunk developed
after I mistakenly repotted my etrog tree at an angle during its second year.
A new trunk started to grow out of the first trunk, growing straight up.
You can clearly see the two distinct trunks, looking like two different trees,
in the third picture above.
 The etrog tree is an evergreen, which means its leaves
should be green year-round, unless of course you underfertilize it as I did
this year, in which case the leaves turn yellow and drop off. Etrog leaves
are large and oval-shaped, five or six inches long and two inches wide. They
should have a rich green color. The one pictured at right is yellowing a
bit at the edges, but is otherwise a good color. They smell very much like
Lemon Pledge furniture polish! Some people put the leaves in closets to repel
moths.
Etrog trees produce small white flowers, an inch or two across, that will
eventually develop into fruits when the tree is mature enough to produce
them. My tree has not yet produced any fruit, but it is still very young.
The flower picture above was taken in March 2005, when the tree was about
2½ years old, and was the first time I had noticed flowers on the tree.
You can see that several other flowers are ready to blossom on the same branch.
Etrog trees also develop thorns, which are between ½ and ¾ inch
long. They are quite thin and rather sharp, but do not possess any irritant
properties. The thorns tend to grow out of the trunks or branches, usually
near the leaves.
If you would like to learn more about the etrog fruit and tree and its history,
Zaide Reuven's Esrog Farm has a great
little book called The Etrog with lots of information, including tips for
growing, and recipes. They also sell etrog seedlings, cuttings and trees.
I confess, I did not have much luck with the seedlings I bought from them
many years ago, but this probably has more to do with my lack of skill as
a gardener than with their products: my etrog tree above is about the only
plant I have managed not to kill! They also sell other etrog-related products
and other things related to Sukkot.
© Copyright 5766 (2005), Tracey R
Rich
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