Definitely potted if in NJ.

Citron is very useful for cooking & baking. The peel has less bitterness and is a little more edible than the peel of a regular lemon.

For those of you who may not know, citron is the ancestor of lemons (regular lemons at least, to be entirely technically accurate). It's believed citron was hybridized with sour orange in Italy, and the result was lemons.

Some citrons can also grow very large fruit, larger than lemons. Typically the interior of the fruit will have much less juice. But citrons are most valuable for their white pith and peel. So citron is more of a culinary fruit.

Curious, what would the use of the white pith? I've certainly zested peels before...

The white pith can be candied. That's one of the main ingredients in traditional fruit cake.

The thing is, the pith in a citron will be much thicker, sweeter (relative term), and less bitter than the pith of something like a lemon or orange would be.

Yes, it's containerized, just got it into the greenhouse. But it's outside in full, unobstructed, southern exposure from March through October. I have used the peel on lemon chicken and it caramelizes nicely. It definitely adds some extra dimension. But the most interesting thing about this fruit is how insanely aromatic it is, more perfumed than anything lemony. Interesting about its history in hybridization,