DINAYEN'S ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT CO,.LTD

Lemons might leave a sour taste in the mouth, but that sting is especially sour for historians.

That’s because the true origin of the lemon is a mystery of time, with horticultural experts unable to pin down the fruit’s first home – though it’s thought to be somewhere between Northern India, Southeast China, and Burma.

Indeed, lemons weren’t really on the map until the 1000s, when they became a popular piece of produce in the Mediterranean, and only then were noted for the decorative qualities. The Italians, in particular, were smitten with the citrus fruits, spawning hundreds of cultivars – and that’s where the Eureka lemon got its start. Sort of.

The fruit is a descendant of the Italian lemon varietal called the Lunario. In English, the name translates to “money,” and using it to create the Eureka certainly turned out to be a profitable idea.

A California farmer by the name of Thomas Garey was first able to triumphantly shout out the name of his signature lemon in 1858, after a few years of mixing-and-matching different Lunario offspring. And by 1877, he had the formula down, bringing the inspiring fruit to the market at large.