From the fields, in writing

A direct-sale box doesn’t look like a supermarket tray, and that throws people the first time. What each mark is, which are normal and which aren’t.

«Use an untreated lemon», say the recipes, and hardly anyone knows what that means. When the peel is usable, how to check, and how to zest without bitterness.

Between the tree and the shelf there are six or seven steps, all legal and all with a reason. Worth knowing which, if only to choose with some idea of what you’re doing.

An orange that shines like a shop window is waxed. It isn’t poison or a trick: it’s what fruit needs when it has to last months. Ours doesn’t need it.