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Lemons are the citrus fruit from the tree Citrus limon. They are cultivated primarily for their juice, though the pulp and rind are also used, primarily in cooking. Lemon juice is about 5% citric acid, which gives lemons a sour taste.
The lemon was unknown to the ancient Romans and Greeks; it is first mentioned in the book of Nabathae on agriculture in the third or fourth century. Lemons were not cultivated in the West until after the Arab conquests. They were cultivated in Genoa in the mid-fifteenth century, and appeared in the Azores in 1494. Lemons were once used by the British navy to combat scurvy, as they provided a large amount of vitamin C. The British navy originally thought lemons were overripe limes which they resemble and their sailors became known as limeys, not lemonys.
Both lemons and limes are regularly served as lemonade (natural lemon with water and sugar) or limeade, its equivalent, or as a garnish for drinks such as cola with a slice either inside or on the rim of the glass. Lemon juice is typically dripped onto battered fish dishes in restaurants in the United Kingdom and other countries—the acidic juice neutralizes the taste of amineAmines are organic compounds containing nitrogen as the key atom in the amine functional group. Amines have structures resembling ammonia, where one or more hydrogen atoms are replaced by alkyl groups or other groups where the nitrogen is bonded to a carbs in fish. Some like to eat lemons as fruit. One unusual use of lemon juice is as the main ingredient of an oil substitute for cars.
Lemon juice contains approximately 501.6 milligramThe milligram (symbol mg is an SI unit of mass. It is defined as: 1 mg 10−6 kg 1/1000000 (one millionth) of a kilogram. A thousand of them make up a gram; a million make a kilogram; a billion make a metric tonne. The milligram is useful for statings of vitamin C and 49.88 gramFor other meanings of gram see gram (disambiguation). The gram (also spelt gramme is a unit of measurement of mass, and is defined in the SI system of units as one thousandth of a kilogram. See 1 E -3 kg for comparisons with other masses. The symbol for gs of citric acid per liter.