
When life hands you lemons, make lemonade! And when life hands you a chance to celebrate National Lemon Juice Day on August 29, do it! This puckery fruit may be hard to taste all on its own, but it’s a versatile addition to many of your favorite drinks, dishes, and even wellness concoctions.
Lemons are the main ingredient in one of America’s favorite summertime beverages and a necessary accessory to any seafood feast. But don’t just drink the juice: use the oil from the lemon rind to make a nontoxic insect repellant or spray the juice on your hair to give it a lighter, beachier color! The options for lemons are endless!
- 2nd Century AD – Lemons entered Europe near southern Italy no later than the second century AD, during the time of Ancient Rome.
- 14th Century – During the Renaissance, women used lemon juice to redden their lips.
- 1493 – Christopher Columbus brings lemons to The New World
- 19th Century – In the 19th century, lemons were increasingly planted in Florida and California.
- 1800s – Lemons are a sign of wealth and their trees are grown outside of homes to show affluence and provide fragrant smells to passersby.
- 1849 – The demand for lemons and their scurvy-preventing abilities peaked in the California Gold Rush of 1849. Malnourished miners were willing to pay a lot for a single lemon. Today, California is still full of lemon trees as a result.
- 1900s – “Lemon” is a common name for both boys and girls.
- The pulp and rind (zest) are also used in cooking and baking.
- The juice of the lemon is about 5% to 6% citric acid, which gives a sour taste.
- Lemon trees can produce up to 600 lbs of lemons every year.
- Lemon trees produce fruit all year round.
- 2 – the number of types of lemons — sweet and acidic.
- 500 – the number of lemons needed to power a flashlight bulb.
- 12 pounds – the approximate weight of the heaviest lemon recorded in 2003.
- 100,000 – the amount by which lemons are more acidic than water.
- 3 million – the amount in tons of lemons produced in India per year.
- 50 – the age up to which a lemon tree can live.
- 2–4 inches – the size of a lemon leaf.
- Use lemon juice to remove stubborn watermarks from glass doors.
- Lemon juice acts as a bleaching agent, so throw your whites into boiling water with a couple of lemon halves.
- For natural highlights in your hair, apply lemon juice daily for a week.
- The origin of the lemon is unknown, though lemons are thought to have first grown in Assam (a region in northeast India), northern Burma or China.
- A study of the genetic origin of the lemon reported it to be a hybrid between bitter orange (sour orange) and citron.
- Lemon oil may be used in aromatherapy. Lemon oil aroma does not influence the human immune system but may contribute to relaxation.
- The top producers of lemons are India, Mexico, and China, with significant production by Argentina and Brazil as well.
- The most common types of lemons are the Meyer, Eureka, and Lisbon lemons.
- The Bonnie Brae lemon is oblong, smooth, thin-skinned and seedless. It’s mostly grown in San Diego County, United States.
- The Eureka lemon is also known as the Four Seasons lemon because of its ability to produce fruit and flowers together throughout the year.
- The Femminello St. Teresa or Sorrento lemon is native to Italy. Its zest is high in lemon oils which is why it’s been traditionally used in the making of limoncello.
- California and Arizona produce most of the United States’ lemon crop.
- The first place to cultivate lemons in Europe was in Genoa, Italy.
- A whole raw lemon contains 139 percent of the daily recommended vitamin C intake and has 22 calories.
- The health benefits of lemons are due to their many nutritious elements like vitamin C, vitamin B6, vitamin A, vitamin E, folate, niacin thiamin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, copper, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc, phosphorus and protein.
- Lemon also contains flavonoids, which are composites that contain antioxidant and cancer-fighting properties. It helps prevent diabetes, constipation, high blood pressure, fever, and indigestion, as well as improve the skin, hair, and teeth.
- According to The Reams Biological Ionization Theory (RBTI), the lemon is the ONLY food in the world that is anionic (an ion with a negative charge). All other foods are cationic (the ion has a positive charge.) This makes it extremely useful to health as it is the interaction between anions and cations that ultimately provides all cell energy.
- “When life gives you a lemon… squeeze it, mix it with six ounces of distilled water and drink twice daily.”– Jethro Kloss in his book Back to Eden.
- The origin of the word “lemon” might be Middle Eastern. The word draws from the Old French “limon”, then Italian “limone,” from the Arabic “laymun” or “limun”, and from the Persian “limun”, which was a generic term for a citrus fruit.
- In February and March, Menton in the French Riviera celebrates an annual Lemon Festival.
- Placing lemon slices close to your bed removes toxins from the air and aids in sleep as lemon is a natural stress reliever.
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