When is a Lemon a Lime?

While we were in Florida last winter, we took a mini-road trip to Immokalee.  Although this town of approximately 25,000 is part of the Naples - Marco Island statistical area, it seems like a very different community than Naples or Marco Island. 

To get from south Ft. Myers to Immokalee, you travel through a lot of land filled with rows and rows of citrus trees.  Much of this area seems very rugged and natively tropical with the exception of the neatly planted rows of trees.  Traveling to either Naples or Marco Island is an adventure in negotiating lots of traffic, blocks of strip malls, and densely populated marinas.....not a grove in site.

Immokalee is known for several things; probably the most discussed of these is the casino.  What is less discuss is the large population of migrant workers who live in area 'camps' near groves of citrus and/or fields of roma tomatoes.  Locals shared that Immokalee is the roma tomato capital of the world - sounds good, but I am not sure where I can verify that claim.  Another interesting draw is the large farmer's market.

Unlike many farmer's markets I have visited, this one is like a small village of stands of all sizes, set up to sell produce.  They seem to be owned and not controlled by 'first com - first serve' rules.  By the volume of roma tomato cases offered for sale on the day of our visit there might be some credence to the 'tomato capital' claim!  In addition to a ton or two of tomatoes, there was a nice variety of citrus fruits, a few melons, peppers, and 75 pound bags of vidalia onions.

On the day we visited, all of the stands were run by hispanic men and women - none of whom spoke English.   Since my Spanish is not what is was when I went to school in Spain, my communication was pretty rough.  The one thing I was looking for that I could not find were lemons.  I kept asking for lemons in my best Spanish, and I kept being directed to bags of limes.  Finally, I call Sarah, our daughter-in-law, who teaches Spanish.  She shared that the word for lemon and lime is the same thing in Spanish.

Well, I instantly felt better about my Spanish, and decided I was NOT going to be finding any yellow lemons on this trip.  When we returned to Ft. Myers, I was glad that our local Publics did make a distinction between the two fruits.  I don't know about you, but I think they taste very different from one another and provide a very different 'color' to any food or beverage.....no matter which way you slice it, a lime is just NOT a lemon!