Lemons

Just below the Tropic of Capricorn in a flat expanse at the foot of the Andes Mountains lies something that keeps Ventura County lemon grower Bob Pinkerton up at night. It's Argentina's Tucuman province--a fertile plain roughly the size of Connecticut that threatens to topple Ventura County from its perch as the world's premier producer of the tart yellow fruit. "There's no doubt about it, these guys want to be the No.

The Downtown Breakfast Club once again has raised a collective critical eyebrow, bestowing its annual "roses & lemons" awards at a gathering Thursday. And once again receiving a lemon was the Beaudry Center, ajarring office and parking complex hovering like some megalith at 3rd City Review Street just west of the Harbor Freeway. Last year, the center received the dubious recognition for its bulky 29-story office tower.

When Hatsuko Oba, a housewife in Kawasaki, Japan, goes shopping for the perfect lemon, she chooses Sunkist. And although she does not know it, chances are the perfectly curved, perfectly yellow, flawless lemon that she selects from the produce section of her local Yokado Supermarket came from Ventura County. From cars to perfumes to Gucci handbags, the Japanese have a refined sense of the kata--or ideal form--any object should have.

The automobiles they were driving were all but held together by bailing wire and glue. Still, three German tourists were unprepared for what happened when they drove into Los Angeles. The bottom fell out from under them. The market for the East German-made Trabant automobiles they had brought to this country--two of the three cars survived the trip--had disappeared faster than the Berlin Wall.

Ed Hoffman just loves to say, "Don't squeeze it; squirt it" when he's making the rounds promoting his unusual new juice product from France. The excitable, quick-talking Hoffman is chief executive officer for Best One Produce and lead spokesman for the firm's Cit-Jet Lemon Juice, which he hopes will change the way consumers apply citrus flavor to food. The Frenchman's grand plan is underscored with a worldwide patent for the imported product's unique packaging.

Just call it Lemon County. Production of the once-mighty orange, Orange County's top citrus crop for a century, declined by 70% last year and was finally surpassed by lemons. "It really puts in perspective how few oranges groves we have left," said Gordon McClelland, who worked in local packinghouses as a teenager and later wrote a book about citrus box labels. "It makes you wonder what will happen next year."

Just below the Tropic of Capricorn, in a flat expanse at the foot of the Andes Mountains, lies Argentina's Tucuman Province, a fertile plain roughly the size of Connecticut that may one day be responsible for knocking Ventura County from its gilded perch as the world's premier producer of lemons. "There's no doubt about it, these guys want to be the No. 1 lemon producers in the world, and they're probably going to do it," said Ventura lemon grower Bob Pinkerton.

All seasons have seasonings. Summer is balsamic vinegar: on tomatoes with mozzarella, in salads, drizzled over grilled swordfish or zucchini. Fall is herbs: squash baked with thyme, and chicken roasted with rosemary, and veal sauteed with sage. And in winter you can literally smell spices mulling. But springtime is lemon. Think of any food at its peak now and chances are it goes better with lemon: asparagus and artichokes, soft-shell crabs and wild salmon, strawberries and rhubarb.

Ventura County lemon growers are bracing for bad news from federal regulators who are expected to issue a decision any day on whether to allow the importation of Argentine lemons, a decision that could cut into the market for the region's No. 1 cash crop. But farmers say it is more than an economic issue.

Like Newton, the apple and gravity, fruit once again has played a big role in a scientific discovery. But instead of getting bopped like Sir Isaac on the noggin, Ray Turner reached into his refrigerator for a lemon and came away with a startling solution to one of the more daunting environmental problems facing mankind. After a few false starts one evening at his La Habra home, the longtime Hughes Aircraft Co.