What’s actually in those little bottles of lemon juice from the supermarket?
Of course, freshly squeezed lemon can’t be beaten (and conveniently, no seeds appear out of nowhere that you then have to pick out of the juice). But those ready-made bottles of lemon juice from the supermarket are incredibly convenient. So what’s actually in them? Are they a good alternative to freshly squeezed lemon juice?
The Keuringsdienst van Waarde—who else?—took a dive into the world of lemon juice. Here’s what it comes down to: your personal preference plays a major role. But you do need to know what that preference is based on.
Tasty and a preservative
I use lemon juice for 2 reasons. To give my dish some acidity and as a natural preservative. Have I got half an avocado left over? I drizzle lemon juice over it and it doesn’t discolour. Apples cut up for my apple pie? A little lemon juice keeps them from turning brown and mealy if I set them aside for a while. You may recognise it; we reach for lemon juice more often than we think. So we have 2 options: press it ourselves or squeeze it from a bottle.
‘Fresh’ or from concentrate
However many brands, varieties and colours of bottles there are on the shelf, lemon juice always comes in 2 types: ‘fresh’ or from concentrate. Lemon juice from concentrate is made differently from ‘fresh’ lemon juice. At the factory, all the moisture is extracted from the lemons until a kind of syrup remains. That syrup has an incredibly strong flavour. Water is then added to the syrup, diluting the mixture. ‘Fresh’ lemon juice, on the other hand, is more or less fresh. More or less, yes: 99.8% of what’s in the bottle is pure lemon juice.
I don’t put the word ‘fresh’ in quotation marks for nothing. Lemon juice from a bottle is never completely fresh. Just like lemon juice from concentrate, the bottle contains various additives. This often means essential oil (which intensifies the flavour) and an additional preservative (E224, or sulphite). Um, an additional preservative? Isn’t lemon juice already a preservative in itself? Yes, but adding extra sulphite keeps the bottle fresh for much longer. Freshly squeezed lemon juice keeps for 3 to 4 days (refrigerated and sealed), while bottled lemon juice lasts around 2 to 3 months. Quite a difference.
What should we choose?
So which is better? Well, real fresh lemon juice after all. The juice you squeeze yourself. It contains no added preservatives or oils. Pure nature, in other words. The only downside is that it’s best to use this super-fresh juice immediately, or at least within 4 days at most. Don’t want the hassle of squeezing and want juice that keeps longer? Then you can certainly use bottles of lemon juice from the supermarket. Keuringsdienst van Waarde does recommend always checking the ingredients list. They say that even organic juices sometimes contain added preservatives or essential oils.
Also read:
- Is a glass of water with lemon really that healthy in the morning?
- Keuringsdienst van Waarde investigates: why are raisins so much cheaper than grapes?
- Keuringsdienst van Waarde investigates the Keurslager: what exactly are they inspecting?
Source: Keuringsdienst van Waarde
