My sister sent me this photo after we talked about these huge lemons in our family Google Hangout today. My goodness are they huge! After seeing this I had to do some research to see exactly what this beast was.
After doing a little Internet research, it looks like this is a Sfusato lemon — also referred to as Lo Sfusato Amalfitano”, Limone Costa d’Amalfi” or Coast of Amalfi Lemons. This is a registered and protected name under the European food laws, just as you might see with various wines.
I have seen references to these lemons be used to make the traditional Italian Limoncello liqueur and also that they are a hybrid cross between a lemon and a citron.
My sister’s friends have a tree growing in the yard in the Palm Springs area of California. I have not seen or heard of these before, but I think I will need to convince these friends to part with 4 or 5 of these fruits so that I might make a batch of Limoncello with them. It would be interesting to see if this gets a little closer to the Italian-made versions I have tried.
See my videos on making your own limoncello here.
Further information on Sfusato Lemons: