Citrus Cousins: Linking Ideas About Lemons and Oranges

Two Citrus Cousins

1In my family's kitchen, a bowl of fruit sits on the counter, and it almost always holds lemons and oranges. My grandmother calls them cousins. Both are citrus fruits, and both grow on trees in warm, sunny places. Their trees are alike in another way, too: frost can harm them, especially young trees. In this report, I will compare the two fruits by their taste, their peels, and the ways my family uses them.

2The biggest difference between the two fruits is their taste. Lemons are very sour because their juice has a lot of acid. Few people eat a lemon the way they eat an apple. In contrast, most oranges taste sweet. My little brother eats one orange slice after another until the whole orange is gone.

3The peels of these fruits are alike in many ways. Both peels are thick and bumpy. Both also hold oils with a strong, fresh smell. However, the colors are different. A ripe lemon is usually bright yellow, while a ripe orange is usually orange.

4My family uses both fruits in our cooking, especially on weekends. For example, my father squeezes lemon juice over fish and vegetables to add a bright, tangy taste. Similarly, my mother grates lemon zest, the thin outer layer of the peel, into muffin batter for extra flavor. Oranges are used differently. We usually peel them and eat them as a snack, or we squeeze them for juice at breakfast. Sometimes my grandmother drops a few orange slices into a pitcher of cold water.

5Lemons and oranges may be cousins, but they are not twins. Lemons are sour, so they are mostly used to flavor other foods. Oranges, on the other hand, are sweet enough to enjoy all by themselves. Because both fruits are so useful, our fruit bowl is almost never empty. The next time you see these two fruits side by side, think about how the cousins are alike and how they are different.