LEMON DROP DRINK RECIPE

(Keywords: LEMON DROP DRINK RECIPE, LEMON juice, lemon water)

Two fruits apparently have an alkalising effect on the body, namely the lemon and the watermelon. It is probably difficult for you to grasp how a fruit, obviously acidic, can have an alkalising effect. It has to do with the basic salts in the lemon - salts of magnesium and calcium for example which are alkaline, so that the remaining ash after digestion is indeed alkaline.

One chemistry teacher, asked about the acidic nature of lemon juice stated: "Lemon juice is essentially citric acid and water..." Well, sir, I have reason to disagree.

LEMON WATER

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF LEMON JUICE

WATER

CARBOHYDRATES

1. SUGARS

   After water, a lemon is made up primarily of carbohydrates. In the lemon juice, 70% of this are simple sugars, like glucose and fructose, but the pulp has a far high concentration of complex sugars, or polysaccarides.

   Simple sugars are rapidly absorbed into the blood stream giving an insulin rush - they have a high Glycemic Index.- not good when taken in quantity, but fine in small amounts. In LEMON DROP DRINK RECIPE you don't need to fuss, with so much extra water added - the amount of carbohydrate, simple or complex, is relatively low.

   But when using a lemon in cooking, for example in making an AUTHENTIC HUMMUS RECIPE where the carbohydrate is not diluted, it makes sense to use the pulp plus juice, and not just the juice, to increase the percent of complex sugars. It's where the fibre is too, and it tastes better, so "end of story". Where possible use the whole lemon.

2. ACIDS

   Then there are many different acids making up a small part of the carbohydrate. Compounds like Pectinic acid (pectin) that give your lemon juice the capability of forming a gel. This jellying power is what makes the lemon the housewife's choice in making marmalade.

   Then there are other "organic" acids like citric acid.

PROTEINS

Pectin gives your lemon juice it's "body", keeping the lemon juice liquid. Once these enzymmes start to break down the pectin, it becomes first thicker and then all the "colloids" in solution will settle out at the bottom making it unattractive and the flavour deteriorates.

So, to make your LEMON DROP DRINK RECIPE we will heat the juice to inactivate the enzymmes. They do it also to all commercial citrus drinks. It does however lessen the value of your lemon juice and lemon water.

In addition your lemon juice contains almost all the amino acids, only in small quantitiues. The exception is tryptophan and that is plentiful in egg, fish, soybeans, dairy, sesame, red meat...

FATTY ACIDS

For the science bof who says that lemon juice is basically citric acid and water, I thought it might be fun to list all the fats in a lemon: carotins, triglycerides, glycosilglycerides, many different polar lipids (I won't list them!)free fatty acides, sterols, tocoferols, phospholipids, limonin, palmitic, palmitoleic, stearic, linoleic, oleic and linolenic fatty acids... Just citric acid and water, sir?

Limonin is formed from another fat when the lemon is squeezed and exposed to air. It is extremely bitter, which is why lemon water gets a "delayed bitterness", again due to enzymme action.

Beta-CAROTEIN

FLAVONOIDS

1. anti-allergic,

2. anti-microbial

3. anti-cancer activities

4. anti-inflammatory activity ."

They also reduce the permeability of the blood vessels, drugs are made from them in the control of varicose veins and thrombosis (clot formation).

Flavonoids are found abundantly in lemons in many different forms that I won't bore you with.

VITAMINS

(reference: CITRECH: http://www.citrech.it/English/Informations.htm)

Orange Juice (OJ) and Lemon juice (LJ)

Freshly squeezed

SELENIUM

Lemon Juice an Alkalysing drink?

Frankly I have difficulty with this. I'm a chem major, and no where can I find an authorative biochemist who can confirm the alkaline nature of lemon juice. You'll will notice in the table above that both OJ and LJ are rich in calcium and magesium - but the OJ has even more than LJ! So how can OJ be acidic and LJ alkaline?

Until someone convinces me otherwise, I'll assume that it's an old wives' tale without substantiation. Drink lemon water, it's health and has a great taste, but it is acidic! Not a problem even if you have an arthritic tendency. Then you should be eating fatty fish... FISH OIL ...

FLAVOUR

Do yourself a flavour: NEVER buy lemon juice flavouring in a small bottle. It tastes and is awful.

LEMON DROP DRINK RECIPE

5 lemons = 20+ glasses of fresh lemon drop recipe

1. Squeeze five fresh lemons into a pot. Remove the pips but include the small bits of pulp. That's my opinion - that's where much of the nutrition is - but filter it out if you must! It made 200ml of the juice/pulp mixture.

2. Add 150ml of sugar. Or less... it's not healthy. (Traditional recipes say 50/50 but that's far too sweet)

3. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, stirring frequently.

4. Cool, bottle and keep in the fridge. Not for too long.

A slosh of this concentrate in a glass filled with cold water makes a drink that takes a lot of beating on a hot summer's day. And the amount of sugar in a slosh of concentrate in reality is very little. (About 1 tsp sugar per glass. 10 tsp per glass of coke)

I forgot to take the last photo. Six glasses of lemon drop drink recipe had already been downed. Five lemons will make 20-30 glasses of our lemon drop drink recipe, depending on how strong you like it.

GROWING LEMON TREES

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