Fresh Lemons

Lemon is a citrus fruit that belongs to the flowering plant family Rutaceae primarily grown in Asia and more specifically in the Northeast India in the state of Assam. The round shaped, yellow coloured fruit is used for a number of cooking and non-cooking purposes. The lemon juice is used for both eating and cleaning purposes. The rind and pulp are also useful for cooking application.

Lemon juice contains around 6% citric acid having a pH of 2.2. The presence of citric acid gives it a sour taste. This distinctive sour taste makes it suitable for use in many different drinks such as lemonade.

Fresh Lemon is widely used all over the world. In culinary application, it is used for making snacks and juice like Fresh Lemon Popcorn, Lemonade, and Citrus Drinks. Take a look here at some of the culinary and non-culinary applications of lemons.

Culinary uses:

Juice – Juice extracted from fresh lemons is use in soft drinks, lemonade and cocktails. Lemon juice is also used in meat in which the acid present in the juice hydrolyzes tough collagen fibers. In some other uses, lemon juice is added to pancakes for attaining a pungent taste.

Peel – Fresh lemons are used as preserved lemons for years to use. These are contained in glass jars with salt. The salt permeates through the outer skin that in turn softens the peel and mix with the rind. The preserved lemon is used as lemon pickles for eating together with meal.

Oil – Fresh Lemon oil is extracted through a process in which the oil is obtained from oil-containing cells in the peel. This is done with the use of an oil extraction machine that uses water spray to separate the oil by centrifugation technique.

Non-culinary uses:

Industrial – Lemon juice were used as the principal source of citric acid prior to the invention of fermentation-based processes.

Aroma – Lemon oil aroma has no impact on human immune system when used in aromatherapy but it leads to relaxation of body and mind.