Limone di Sorrento

Appearance & taste

The fruits are elliptical, symmetrical and medium-sized to large, weighing at least 85 g; lighter lemons with all the other characteristics may be processed. The peel is of medium thickness and lemon yellow on at least half of its surface. Its outer layer is rich in essential oils and has an intense smell and taste. The flesh and juice are straw-yellow, the juice is very acidic, with at least 3.5 g acid per 100 ml, and the juice yield is at least 25 %.

According to the specification, the lemons have a balanced ratio of sugars and organic acids, citric and malic acid. Because the trees flower up to five times a year, the fruits differ markedly in shape, size, peel thickness and number of pips, without their typical characteristics changing.

Production

They are grown under the typical Sorrento pergolas or other covers, on tall-stemmed trees and using methods that, according to the specification, farmers have used for centuries. Rainfall of around 800 mm a year falls mainly in autumn and spring, so that little irrigation is needed.

The lemons are sold loose, in which case 80 % of the fruits bear a label, or in rigid containers of 0.5 to 15 kg. The logo shows three lemons with leaves; the large one shows the Sorrento coast as far as Punta Scutolo. Processed products may refer to the name “Sorrento” if they are made only from these lemons and in the municipalities of the area.

Origin & history

The Sorrento peninsula is a narrow tongue of land between the Gulf of Naples and the Gulf of Salerno, with a chain of hills as its backbone, closed off in the east by the massifs of Monte Faito and Monte Sant’Angelo. Limestone alternates with banks of grey Sorrento tuff; the soils are of volcanic origin, rich in potassium and well drained thanks to layers of lapilli. In winter temperatures rarely fall below zero, and in summer a sea breeze usually keeps them below 30 °C.

According to the specification, citrus fruits were grown on the peninsula as early as antiquity: two lemon trees in Roman mosaics in the “Casa del frutteto” in Pompeii can be compared with today’s Limone di Sorrento. Paintings from the 18th century show lemons and oranges alongside walnuts, olives and vines, and even then lemons were shipped abroad by sea. Around 1800 intensive cultivation began with the Sorrento pergola. In the 19th century the lemons went in poplar-wood crates to other European countries and to America. The specification links Goethe’s line about the “land where the lemons bloom” with Sorrento and calls the lemon the basis of the lemon liqueur limoncello.