The incredible edible. ... lemon? Why yes, it has as many culinary uses as the egg and also has cleaning, medicinal and hygienic qualities. While the recent price of lemons has risen at the same rate as gasoline, when manipulated properly, the entire lemon can be used throughout the house. Lemons are actually a man-made fruit, a hybrid of cultivated wild plants, with the largest producers existing in California and Arizona. They produce 95 percent of the U.S. crop, which is available year round with a peak season from May to July. Lemon trees are extremely sensitive to cold weather but can be adapted to any soil as long as there is good drainage and an ample amount of sunlight.

Most lemon trees can produce 1,000 to 2,000 fruits per year with the main types being the Californian Eureka, Australian Lisbon, Italian Genoa and Sicilian Villafranca. Floridian lemons like the Bearss, Harvey and Avon are not as readily available as well as the Brazilian Dorshapo.

Oddly, one of the most fashionable lemons in the culinary world - the Meyer lemon, made popular by Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten -isn't a true lemon but is a cross between a lemon and either a mandarin or an orange. It has a sweeter taste than the more prevalent Eureka lemon. The Meyer lemon, named for its discoverer, Frank N. Meyer, is not widely grown on a commercial scale and is less acidic than other true lemons.

Lemons have a very rich history dating back to 200 A.D., with possible earlier origins in India and China, and a wide distribution by the Crusaders between 1000 and 1150 in the Mediterranean region, where it flourished in Syria, Egypt, Palestine and Persia.

America saw its first lemons in 1493 when Christopher Columbus, on his second voyage, brought seeds into the New World. The trees were later spread to Mexico and Central America in the 16th century and were established in Florida in 1565. In 1769, Spanish Franciscans then carried the fruit to San Diego, where it was established as a staple.

Lemons can be broken down into juice and zest. Lemons should be bright yellow and oval and feel heavy for their size. An average lemon contains three tablespoons of juice, having 5 percent citric acid, which can be used immediately or frozen into cubes. Note: Buy lemons when they are on sale and freeze the juice and the zest for later use.

Sadly, the juice loses vitamin C after the fruit has been squeezed.

The greatest amount of juice can be acquired by either briefly microwaving the lemon or rolling the lemon on a hard surface then juicing.

The zest can be gathered by using a zester, microplane, peeler or a knife; remember not to take any of the bitter white pith.

The culinary uses of lemons range from the beginning of a meal to the end and from the main ingredient to an accent. We can see lemons used as an acid to “cook” fish in a ceviche, as a coagulant for eggs in the Greek Avgolemono soup, to give flavor to a salad dressing like the classic Caesar, acid to the classic hollandaise sauce or to balance the flavors in a hummus (chickpea puree) or baba ghanoush (eggplant and tahini dip).

Lemons give a clean flavor to entrees without adding sodium or fat. Fish or chicken with lemon is classic, e.g. Trout Meuniere or Amandine, Chicken Cacciatore and Chicken Piccata.

Lemon zest can be added to stews or meat loaves to give them a zip and in marinades to tenderize meats.

Wiener Schnitzel (breaded veal cutlets) would be lost without a few lemon wedges and gremolata (mixture of garlic, zest, parsley, and anchovy fillets) is a popular garnish for Italian dishes of the Milanese style.

Dessert is the category, in my opinion, where both of the lemon components can shine. Lemon mousse, sorbet, curd, macaroons, carrot cake, cheesecake, marmalades, pound cake, frosting for Italian cookies, sponge cake, souffle, chiffon pie and of course the wonderful lemon meringue pie can be eaten for dessert without leaving you with that “weighed down” feeling. They are refreshing and liven up the palate.

Lemons are also used for drinks like sours, sidecars, sangrias, margaritas, punches and in the limoncello liqueur.

The zest is used for garnishes in martinis, Manhattans or in a hot toddy.

There are other ingredients available that have similar lemon flavors or scents and contain no citric acid. Lemon myrtle is used in cheesecakes and ice creams because it does not curdle. Lemongrass is popular in Asian cooking and lemon balm, lemon thyme and lemon verbena are used for their scents. Lemon oil can also be extracted from the leaves of the lemon tree and used for wood treatments, non-toxic insecticides and aromatherapy.

Lemons are an extremely versatile fruit that also have antioxidant and anti-cancer properties that reduce the rate at which cells divide. They were also used to prevent scurvy in sailors in the 1700s.

Lemon concentrates, from 100 percent juice, are fine to use in cooking, but it can't top the juice in its most natural state. The cute little plastic lemons are just the right size to handle and convenient to use in a pinch.

So the next time you hear someone say that something was a “real lemon,” stand back and ask them, “Do you know how great lemons really are?”

Valerie Usowski, an Auburn native, is the banquet manager at the Auburn Holiday Inn and a Culinary Institute of America graduate.