Survival UK Forums
Lemons! - Printable Version

+- Survival UK Forums (http://forum.survivaluk.net)
+-- Forum: Discussion Area (http://forum.survivaluk.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=13)
+--- Forum: Medical (http://forum.survivaluk.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=32)
+---- Forum: Alternative Medicine (http://forum.survivaluk.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=63)
+---- Thread: Lemons! (/showthread.php?tid=2287)



Lemons! - Hrusai - 4 August 2012

Lemons taste good, and you can use them for all sorts of things, from cleaning to simple salad dressing, so im just going to outline a few useful ways to use them! (again kudos to new scientist and len winokur of leedsSmile )

Lemon juice has a ph of roughly 2.3 and occasionally as low as 2.0 which is more acidic than any other fruits, apart from lime which is roughly the same, The acidity in lemons can do alot of different things, from stinging if it gets into a wound, to tenderising meat by hydrolysing the tough collagen fibres (basically dissolving them into smaller less tough bits) it can prevent short term browning of fruit such as apples (try rubbing lemon juice onto some slices of apple, and then leave it next to some untreated apple, you'll be surprised how much longer it lasts) and even cutting down the smell of fish by converting amines to salts.

Lemons contain roughly 6% acid which is the highest of all citrus fruits, which makes it great as a household polish, cleaner and deodoriser (although excessive use does make it quite likely to get in your eyes!) as for why it stings, thats simply cause its acidic, but like salt it may sting, but it does act a disinfectant (acids denature the enzymes in microorganisms slowing down or even halting various metabolic processes, which can simply slow population growth or even just kill them!)

heres a short list of comparative ph's of foodstuffs.

Lemon/Lime - 2.3ph
White Vinegar - 2.4
Grapefruit - 3.0
Orange - 3.5
Yogurt - 3.7 minimum
Tangerine - 3.9
Tomato - 4.5
Milk - 6.6

also blood is slightly alkaline at 7.4ph and soap is 10ph

just for reference the ph scale goes from 1-14 with 1 being very acidic, 7 being neutral and 14 being very alkaline Smile

In my opinion good understanding of such processes and the science behind why these different things work means you can come up with creative uses and also different ways of gaining said compounds...versatility doesnt just apply to being able to use different vehicles, but to understand different reasons things happen! and thats why science is for preppers too Big Grin