Many food and beverage items contain lemon juice, natural lemon flavor or both. When cooking, there are advantages and disadvantages to using either, because lemon juice and natural lemon flavoring perform different functions in recipes. In addition, lemon juice and natural lemon flavoring have benefits outside of food preparation. These include health benefits and household uses. The choice to use lemon juice versus natural lemon flavoring is determined by the intended use.
Lemon Juice
Lemon juice is made by extracting the juice from a lemon. It can be used in regular strength or as a concentrate. It has a pH of 2.4, which makes it only slightly less acidic than stomach acid. It is the acidic quality of lemon juice that differentiates it from natural lemon flavor.
Natural Lemon Flavor
Natural lemon flavor is made from extracting the oils that are found in the skin of the lemon. These oils can be combined with some form of alcohol to make lemon extract. Sometimes, the lemon oil is combined with another fruit oil, such as lime or orange. When this is done, the manufacturer must label the flavoring "natural lemon flavor with other natural flavors." If the label says "natural lemon flavor," then by law it must contain only flavors that come from a lemon.
Benefits of Lemon Juice
When used in recipes, fresh lemon juice adds volume in addition to flavor. This makes it ideal for use in beverages such as lemonade and cocktails. Some baking recipes call for a small amount of lemon juice in addition to natural lemon flavor in the form of lemon extract or lemon zest. This intensifies the lemon flavor.
Lemon juice is also used for other purposes. Steven Y. Nakada, chair and professor of urology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison puts all of his kidney stone patients on lemon juice therapy. The citrate in the lemon juice helps to prevent the formation of kidney stones. Lemon juice also acts as a diuretic, is an effective antiseptic, and its acidic qualities make it a powerful cleaning agent.
Benefits of Natural Lemon Flavor
Natural lemon flavor is used in recipes when intense lemon flavor is desired without the addition of liquid volume. In these recipes, a few drops of natural lemon flavor can add strong lemon flavor.
The health benefits of natural lemon flavor come primarily from its scent. When inhaled, the intense scent from natural lemon oil has been shown to reduce stress and ameliorate insomnia.
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