Happy Belated New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday (three months ago lol sorry!). Ours was filled with lots of food and the addition of a new furbaby <3
meet Ziggy <3 Lulu is adjusting, Elvis (the cat) was surprisingly chill about it
btw that couch is no longer white and permanently covered in paw prints.
Let’s dive back into Calabria and it’s citrus coastline…
Most of us know the Amalfi as the mainstream citrus coast in Italy. Instagrammable sorbets delicately scooped back into their citrus peels, with a backdrop of the stunning sunlit Amalfi coast. It’s perfectly alluring. However, if you drive just a little South along the coast, you reach the untouched Riviera dei Cedri in Calabria.
I am obsessed with citrus fruit. I grow my own (feebly here in the North), I read about them incessantly, and when we travel - fuck me up with the most unique citrus fruit on offer please. So when Nico and I were in Calabria we drove along the coast, chasing down the land of the Cedro di Diamante, filled with quiet beaches, bitter cocktails sipped along beachside bars, and friendly locals.
The Cedro Museum as the sun was setting
Unfortunately, we arrived off season according to a couple citrus farms I tried contacting for a visit, but we were able to visit the Cedro Museum in Santa Maria del Cedro. It’s housed in a beautiful brick property by the sea.
The Cedro di Diamante is a famed citrus fruit, known for it’s odd shape and ability to grow up to 30cm in length. It doesn’t have much juice and has a dense flesh that is normally candied and used in baking. The gift shop at the museum had many different Cedro delights from cookies, candies, liquor to skincare.
A little worse for wear Cedro fruit I brought back to Amsterdam:
We were lucky enough to visit the museum when Angelo Adduci also popped by. Angelo is the president of the Consorzio del Cedro di Calabria, which is devoted to the conservation and education of the Cedro fruit. I did not yet know about the existence of Google Dialogue and also was not prepared to meet with the literal top expert on Cedro fruit. But he was very kind and patient as I fumbled with Google Translate.
Here he is, pictured with the lovely ladies who work at the museum:
Why Angelo enjoys working with the Cedro fruit:
“When you look at it, it has particular characteristics and peculiarities. It is interesting to deal with the Cedro in all its facets, from the anthropological point of view to the historical point of view. Even the nutritional characteristics, botanical characteristics. As well as the relationship between the Cedro and Jewish communities.”
Nic and I attempted to film an impromptu interview but our lacklustre documentary filmmaking skills produced subpar footage that I won’t bother sharing. But we did manage to tour the museum and taste the cedro fruit in a few different forms (drinks, candied, biscuits).
Helen Attlee’s The Land Where Lemons Grow discusses a bit about the history of the Cedro:
The Cedro fruit is intrinsically linked with Jewish culture, as detailed in Attlee’s writing. Every summer, rabbis from all over visit Santa Maria del Cedro to harvest the perfect kosher-grown Cedro fruits, which are then exported to Jewish communities across the world. The fruits (called etrogim) are used in prayer rituals during the holiday of Sukkot. Afterwards, the fruits are often candied or used to make liquor. Sometimes they are made into decorative pomanders, where you bejewel them with cloves. I have always found pomanders of all types so cool, it’s also a fun rabbit hole on deep vintage Etsy if you are looking for a new form of procrastination.
We bought a candied Cedro, which tastes (at least to my taste buds) a bit like a candied kiwi/lime. I’m debating slicing them up thinly and copying this chef on insta.
We also tried a Cedro Spritz at a café along the water. If you love citrus and love a spritz (and happen to be in Calabria) - you have to try the Cedro Spritz. It’s a citrusy bitter aperitivo cocktail with the cedro liquor. Not unlike a hard lemonade. Though much less sweet.
Most restaurants serve the bright green version of the drink, as we learned this means that a dye has been added to make it appear more like a science class experiment.
True cedro liquor is similar to this colour (we didn’t buy the liquor though, this is just the juice):
This was taken at a very cute marina bar in neighbouring Maratea. If you are ever in this area, message me and I’ll send you this bar because it was so so perfect.
If you want to learn more about Cedro and the preservation of the fruit both culturally and physically, you can follow the museum here. Although the museum itself is currently temporarily closed while it undergoes some updates.
Thank you so much for being here <3 Wishing you all the best for 2024, even though we are already aways into it, and I hope to be more consistent with these newsletters!
Also, after avoiding eye contact with our abysmally intimidating overgrown hot mess 100sqm city garden since we moved in last August - Nico and I are getting our asses in gear to make it cute and functional for this summer. We have enlisted my dad (book your flight Peter) to help us set it up and ensure we plant trees properly. I’ll be documenting as much as I can and sharing with you all here over the next few months <3
Know someone who loves stories about garden travel or garden writing in general?
Still not subscribed?