Lemon juice

The lemon

Lemon

The lemon is both a small evergreen tree native to Asia, and the tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit. The fruit is used for culinary and non-culinary purposes throughout the world – primarily for its juice, though the pulp and rind are also used, mainly in cooking and baking...

 fruit

Fruit

In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

, from a citrus

Citrus

Citrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the rue family, Rutaceae. Citrus is believed to have originated in the part of Southeast Asia bordered by Northeastern India, Myanmar and the Yunnan province of China...

 plant, provides a useful liquid

Liquid

Liquid is one of the three classical states of matter . Like a gas, a liquid is able to flow and take the shape of a container. Some liquids resist compression, while others can be compressed. Unlike a gas, a liquid does not disperse to fill every space of a container, and maintains a fairly...

 when squeezed. Lemon juice, either in natural strength or concentrated, is sold as a bottled product, usually with the addition of preservatives and a small amount of lemon oil.

Uses

Lemon juice is used to make lemonade

Lemonade

Lemonade is a lemon-flavored drink, typically made from lemons, water and sugar.The term can refer to three different types of beverage:...

, and is (along with lime juice) an important part of many cocktail

Cocktail

A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink that contains two or more ingredients—at least one of the ingredients must be a spirit.Cocktails were originally a mixture of spirits, sugar, water, and bitters. The word has come to mean almost any mixed drink that contains alcohol...

s. It is also used to make cream cheese

Cream cheese

Cream cheese is a soft, mild-tasting, white cheese with a high fat content. Traditionally, it is made from unskimmed milk enriched with additional cream....

 and is effective in curdling milk

Milk

Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...

.

Lemon juice has a pH

PH

In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at . Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline...

 of around 2.3 and is good for removing the tarnish from pennies that are made from mainly zinc.
It can also be used in writing secret messages that can be revealed by fire.

Nutritional facts

Amounts Per per 1 fl oz (30 g) servings

• Calories 7.6(31.8 kJ) 0%
• From Carbohydrate 0
• From Protein 0.4(1.7 kJ)

Vitamins

Amounts Per Selected Serving

• Vitamin A 6.1IU 0%
• Retinol 0.0mcg
• Retinol Activity Equivalent 0.3mcg
• Alpha Carotene 0.0mcg
• Beta Carotene 0.9mcg
• Beta Cryptoxanthin 5.2mcg
• Lutein+Zeaxanthin 2.7mcg
• Vitamin C 14.0 mg 23% (Ascorbic acid)
• Folate 4.0mcg 1%
• Food Folate 4.0mcg
• Dietary Folate Equivalents 4.0mcg
• Choline 1.6 mg

Minerals

Amounts Per Selected Serving

• Calcium 2.1 mg 0%
• Magnesium 1.8 mg 0%
• Phosphorus 1.8 mg 0%
• Potassium
  Potassium
  Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K and atomic number 19. Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal that oxidizes rapidly in air and is very reactive with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite the hydrogen emitted in the reaction.Potassium and sodium are...
  
  37.8 mg 1%
• Sodium 0.3 mg 0%