Meyer Lemon Scones

I think there is a difference between people who like food and people who like to eat.

My non-scientific, subjective definition is that someone who likes food cares about the ingredients they use, where the things they eat come from and how to prepare the ingredients with flavors that will enhance or complement their taste.

Alternatively, people who like to eat care less about what they’re eating than the fact that they’re eating.

Greasy French fries? Bring it.

Sub-par diner lasagna? They’ll have seconds.

Sometimes, the people who like to eat also like food, but not always.

I’ve always liked to eat.

And while I’ve never been a Dorito-chomping fast-food shoveler, I’ve always been an eater.

Yet, over the past few years, I’ve taken a more invested interest in food, cooking and the ingredients that I use.

Some might use the term food snob but that just sounds so…well, snobby.

Before I started this blog, I thought a lemon was a lemon. I knew that there were hundreds of varieties of apples and more types of squash than there are days of the week but it wasn’t until I entered food blogdom did I learn what a Meyer lemon is.

Meyer lemons are a hybrid fruit: a cross between tangerines or mandarin orange and lemons, which is native to China.

Meyer lemons are smaller and more spherical than regular lemons, with a less acidic taste that makes them perfect for cooking and baking. Their peak season is short: November – January in most climates.

Here in Chicago, they’re available now and what better time than the holiday season to eat a just-sweet-enough-just-tart-enough scone for breakfast with your morning coffee?