The Buddha's hand!
Doesn’t this look like an octopus hanging off a tree?
This fruit is called Buddha’s hand and is more formally known as Citrus medica (var. sarcodactylis). I actually found out about this strange looking fruit in this entry of one of my favourite cartoon strips - a Knight’s Life.
Originally, from north east india and China, it is used in Western cooking for it’s lemon like zest.
According to this post on LA times:
The appeal here is all in the highly aromatic rind: The fingers of the fruit can deliver eight times the surface area for zest compared with other citrus.
Where can one use it? A knowledgeable person in the post explains:
“Anything you can use lemon peel for, you can use this,” she said. “It has multiple culinary uses, savory and sweet. It pairs well with lavender and basil. In a creme brulee or the crust of a cream pie, it’s exquisite.”
Photo courtesy: wonderferret on Flickr