Lemon Juice

part of: Lemon

Lemon juice is a kitchen essential — sharp, clean, and bright, it acts as both a flavouring and a balancing agent in cooking. A dash of it sharpens dressings, finishes sauces, and prevents cut fruit and vegetables from browning.

It’s available fresh from the fruit, as a bottled juice, or as a frozen concentrate. Fresh juice has the brightest flavour, but bottled lemon juice is a convenient substitute when consistency matters more than nuance, such as in marinades or large-batch cooking.

In Australia, lemon juice is a staple in everything from homemade lemon cordial to salad dressings, seafood dishes, and baking. It’s also commonly used as a natural cleaning agent around the home.

Farmed
photograph to come — from twenty years of markets, farms and kitchens

How it's made

Lemons are washed and mechanically juiced, separating the liquid from the pulp, seeds, and peel. For fresh juice, this is simply strained and packaged. For concentrate, the juice is filtered, pasteurised, and reduced through evaporation or reverse osmosis to remove water, then frozen for long-term storage. Bottled lemon juice is typically pasteurised and may contain a small amount of preservative to maintain freshness.

Nutrition (per 100g)

Energy 27kcal
Protein 0.6g
Carbs 1.8g
Fat 0.1g
Fibre 2g Sugar 1.8g
Mass Distribution

1 lemon yields is about 48 g — roughly 10 kcal of this.

What it costs the planet (per kilo)

Carbon ≈0.99kg
Freshwater ≈184.54L
Land ≈1.66m²

≈ Estimated — worked out from a category-typical value further up its supply chain. Where this comes from →

Where it comes from

Made from
Lemon, fruit

In the kitchen

Used as

souring agent

Classic dishes
  • Lemon vinaigrette
  • Hollandaise sauce
  • Lemon curd
  • Lemon tart

Keeping it

In the fridge: about 60 days (after opening).

In the pantry: 360–540 days (from date of purchase).

Advice from Cubud’s own keeping notes — how to keep it, not a measured number.

Keeping one at home? Track yours in your cubud →

Where this data comes from

Nutrition data from

FSANZ + USDA

How it was calculated

Recipe

Full credits, licences, and methods: the sources page →

Where to next

made fromLemon, fruit goes well witholive oil goes well withgarlic goes well withhoney goes well withbutter goes well withparsley shares a sourceLemon shares a sourceLemon Flavorings & Pantry shares a sourceLemon Peel shares a sourceLemon Pudding shares a sourceLemon-Lime Soda shares a sourceLemonade shares a sourcePreserved Lemon
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