The lemon is both a small evergreen tree (Citrus × limon, often given as C. limon) 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 (zest) are also used, mainly in cooking and baking. Lemon juice is about 5% to 6% (approximately 0.3 M) citric acid, which gives lemons a sour taste, and a pH of 2–3. Many lemon flavored drinks and foods are available, including lemonade and sherbet lemons, as well as lemon and seasoning salt as a snack. The distinctive sour taste of lemon juice makes it a key ingredient in many dishes across the world.
Various citruses do not fit the popular or botanical definition of oranges or lemons. For instance the kratta citrus of India has an orange leaf, an orange exterior, an orange pulp, yet its fruit is prominently mammillate (covered with rounded protuberances), and its flower is tinged purple. The acidless citrus, the mitha-nimboo, has a lemon-yellow exterior, a white pulp, and it is mammillate. Its leaves are like a lemon's, but its flowers are pure white. The jkamblri proper has orange-like leaves, the flowers are slightly tinged with purple, the pulp, varies from white to pale yellow, or orange, and the fruit is mammillate, and of two kinds externally, either of an orange colour, or of a lemon-yellow, and possibly also of a fawn colour.
The average lemon contains approximately 3 tablespoons (50 mL) of juice. Allowing lemons to come to room temperature before squeezing (or heating briefly in a microwave) makes the juice easier to extract. Lemons left unrefrigerated for long periods of time are susceptible to mold.Lemon juice is used to make lemonade, soft drinks, cocktails, and marinades for both fish, where its acid neutralizes amines in fish by converting them into non-volatile ammonium salts, and meat, where the acid partially hydrolyzes tough collagen fibers, tenderizing the meat, but the low pH denatures the proteins, causing them to dry out when cooked. Lemon juice is frequently used in the United Kingdom to add to pancakes, especially on Shrove Tuesday.
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