Name that Citrus

Welcome to real fruit. I don't know what they do to it in the U.S. to make it pretty and the "right" color, shape, texture or whatever, but it has made shopping in Ghana an adventure. Just when you think you know what something is and you buy it and take it home and get all ready to put it in your tea or squeeze it for juice or eat it in slices, you get a bit of a surprise.

Now, I'm not saying that fruit and other growing things here are all organic or anything. Farmers, as much as they can afford, are drawn by the promise of greater yield through pesticides just like in America, but the fruit does generally ripen all the way on the tree and it is not engineered or colored.

So, I've created a little quiz for you - to see how well you know your citrus. Do you have piece of paper? Write the letters A through E on your paper. You may want to gather the children for a little help if you have them. They do a lot of these matching exercises in school. But, don't feel intimidated by them. I'm sure you'll get the answers right, too.


Ready? Now name the citrus shown in the photo above. Take your time, give it a little thought - examine them closely. If you're using Internet Explorer you should be able to use that little zoom button (mom, it's the one with the magnifying glass with the (+) sign in it and the 100% beside it) in the lower right corner of your browser to see a bigger viewer. I don't want you to feel as if you haven't had a fair chance.

OK, are you finished? Good.

Well, I'm not going to tell you the answers right now. Don't look at me that way and watch your language! I'm just not ready to tell you yet. And I'm not sure you want to keep the answers you have anyway. Have another look and see if you want to change your mind on anything.

Yes, as a matter of fact I did buy all this fruit and take pictures of it and slice it and take pictures again and crop them and size them (they are relatively close to scale), and label them just for you. I think I mentioned we have no TV or DVDs, right?

Anyway, are you keeping your answers? Did you change some? Still confused? What if I tell you that there is at least one lemon, lime, orange, and tangerine. Does that help?

OK, if you're still deciding don't scroll down yet. It may spoil the suspense - and citrus is nothing if not suspenseful. Have I done a good job keeping you on the edge of your seat? Don't answer that - and I said watch your language. This is a G Rated blog.

All righty. Ready for the answers now? OK, here they are.




What? Oh, that's too small. I'm sorry. Here, how's this?




No, my answer key is certainly not incorrect. The green one is the lemon and the tiny yellow one is the lime. The medium sized yellow one is a tangerine as is the shiny orange and green one. They are two different varieties and have different tangerine-y flavors.

Thanks for playing! And you should really try tangerine in your tea - or lime - they're both quite refreshing!
XO