Buddha's Hand

Buddha's Hand

Open hand When Ripe

Buddha's Hand citron, or Fingered citron ,Bushukan
Citrus medica

Closed Hand Unripe

This cultivar of the Citron is unusually exotic. Thought to be the oldest known citrus in cultivation, it produces a large ornamental fruit with long protruding fingers and a thick rind. Although inedible, the rind is often candied. The hand has been used in China and Japan for perfuming rooms and clothing and has been used as an ornament, as well as in religious ceremonies. You don't really want to cook with this thing, but use it as a centerpiece to perfume a room, astound friends, family and children. 

There it was, appearing as some sort of science fiction alien, with no name or price, or over a millennium, the Chinese and Japanese have prized the bizarre Buddha’s Hand Citron, which looks like a cross between a giant lemon and a squid, and can perfume a room for weeks with its mysterious fragrance.  Scholars believe that sometime after the fourth century CE, Buddhist monks carried this graceful oddity from India to China, where it came to symbolize happiness, wealth and longevity. 

Artists classically depicted it in jade and ivory carvings, in prints, and on lacquered wood panels. Though esteemed chiefly for its exquisite form and aroma, the Buddha’s Hand citron is also candied as a dessert.The golden fruit is especially popular at New Year’s, for it is believed to bestow good fortune on a household. At year’s end-the Japanese who call it bushukan, also buy it. They use it as a decorative ornament and place it on top of specially pounded rice cakes, or they use it in lieu of flowers in the home’s sacred tokonomo alcove.