The mighty lemon

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The mighty lemon  (if you are salicylate intolerant, lemons are not for you)
 
Why would you drink lemon juice – it's so acidic. It is now but not later, after you have drunk it, when it becomes alkaline in the body.
 
The juice is extremely acid – around 2.0 on the pH scale of 1-14 with 7 being neutral, 1 being highly acidic and 14 being highly alkaline.
Lemon juice is only useful if taken freshly squeezed. The bottled or otherwise preserved retail availability has no great health value – it's only benefit being the addition of flavour. To give shelf life these products have either been heat treated (pasteurised) or had a preservative added or both. Fresh is definitely best.
 
The best varieties are YenBen, Eureka, Genoa, Villa Franca and Lisbon – these are proper lemons, whereas the Meyer 'lemon' is a cross with an orange and accordingly has a sweeter taste and lacks some of the natural chemicals contained in real lemons. Better than nothing and this variety does fill a seasonal gap. When purchasing lemons at retail, check that it is reasonably unblemished, has a smooth light yellow skin and is not soft. Too hard can indicate a very thick skin and not much juice. The internal membranes should not be dry or discolored, which can result from chilling injury during storage. A fresh lemon can be squeezed into ice cube trays and frozen for later use. Before juicing your lemon, bring to room temperature for maximum juice extraction. If you plan to use the rind or zest (skin) then a good hot water wash with a little dishwash liquid will remove any commercial waxes and pesticides.
 
Lemons will thrive in any good well drained garden soil. The soil pH is very important – not to be too acidic (below 6) or too alkaline (above 7) so slightly on the acid side is good. The best way to correct a pH problem is to add lime to correct acidity and compost to lower alkalinity. Lemons do like good sunlight, so planted in a dull spot encourages sulking and probably plant death. Lemons will crop reliably for many years if given the right conditions. Lemons flower profusely although most of these flowers drop without forming fruit – don't worry, as usefully, lemons are self pollinating and the remaining flowers the tree retains and that form fruit are numbers it can handle according to it's age, health and nutritional status. Active honey bees, although theoretically not needed and hard to find these days, will help ensure a bountiful crop.
 
Our digestive system produces water and carbon dioxide from breaking down the lemon acids, also releasing a host of alkalising minerals rendering the juice of one fresh lemon  in water as overall, being highly alkaline - An important aid towards building up the body's alkaline reserve.  One smallish, healthy lemon contains the recommended daily dose of vitamin C, but must be fresh squeezed. Beta-carotene, B and E vitamins, manganese, selenium, zinc, potassium, magnesium, phosphorous, iron, copper and calcium are just some of the valuable contents of a lemon.

We all know something about antioxidants but probably don't know about the wide spread of these important compounds which occur in lemons. Flavonoids, coumarins and terpenoids and the list is not finished yet as we move onto organic acids which can aid digestion and help release alkalizing minerals. Lowering production of LDL  (the bad cholesterol) , discouraging bowel cancer, arteriosclerosis and helping rid the body of pollutants are just some of the useful actions of lemon juice.
 
Adding the juice of 1 fresh lemon to your daily diet – taken in the morning before any other food, is a strong step on the path to sustainable good health.