People Can't Believe The Massive Size Of This Lemon Grown In Australia

Australia certainly sets itself apart from the rest of the world, thanks to its distant location and the diverse range of plants and animals that call it home. Not only are there unique species you'd never see without going to the land down under, but their size can be out of proportion with regular norms. Melissa Palinkas is an owner and chef of two restaurants in Western Australia, who spends a fair bit of time sourcing quality ingredients for her dishes. 

Nonetheless, Palinkas was quite impressed by a recent gift from local gardeners, indicating that even chefs haven't seen it all when it comes to food. Palinkas received two giant lemons, each weighing around six pounds, from a couple in East Fremantle, West Australia. The gardeners had given her fair warning, telling the chef about the giant lemons they were growing a couple of months prior to the harvest, according to Palinkas' Instagram caption. 

Melissa Palinkas posted a photo of the lemon beside a hand holding a standard size lemon. The average response on the post was a surprised "Wow!", making it clear that these huge lemons aren't a regular occurrence for most. A few days later, Palinkas cut into the mammoth lemons, revealing a rather "pithy-ful" interior. The chef did some research and reports (via Instagram), "It turns out it's a Ponderosa lemon originating from Amalfi."

She likened it to a Cedro lemon, indicating that the two have very little juice content, but are prized for their "lemon citrusy pearls." Palinkas explained that unlike a regular lemon with a bitter pith, Ponderosa lemons have a sweet pith which explains the thickness. Instead of discarding the white tissue, Palinkas described to her Instagram fans how she shaved it and used it "for a salad I made with green olives lots of chives and dill, zucchini and our burnt lemon dressing with lemon oil." She suggested the peel could even be used to make limoncello, an Italian lemon liqueur. Instagram user @hampshirefarmhouse dubbed it a "multi-talented lemon," and we're inclined to agree!

It's not the first time that Australian fruit has been in the news for its oversized appearance. In 2018, The Guardian published an article about an avocado the size of a head nicknamed the "Avozilla." The giant avocado was estimated to be about four times larger than the average supermarket find, selling for around $12.