If life gives you lemons...
By ARM
@responsiveme (22926)
India
March 9, 2017 7:57am CST
Or any other juicy fruits easily available , would you take the trouble to make fresh fruit juice from them or go in for the various packaged fresh fruits juices easily available in the market?
Growing up in the 70s and 80s , packaged and canned food was not the norm. This was a predominantly agricultural country. Local fruits were a plenty and grew abundantly in gardens. My grandmother and mother would regularly make fresh lime juice as elevenses during summer holidays.
Mostly they would use their hands, sometimes if sweet limes were added there would be a basic squeezer, where the fruit is cut in half and then rotated on a conical part of the squeezer. Added with sugar and black salt the taste was heavenly. Visitors would be offered this in the hot days of summer.
I continued the tradition after I got married. There were always fresh limes available in the garden. But then I discovered the “Canning Centre’ . This was a place you went to with your load of limes and sugar and empty beer bottles collected from the local club. The people there would help prepare lime squash and seal the cover with wax. My friends and I would come home tired and laden with bottles of lime squash. It was very convenient when lots of visitors would come in. But I still continued to make fresh lime juice for my boys and their friends.
With time that too has changed. With globalization, attractive packaged fruit drinks made with “real fruit” and tempting names like ”Pomegranate delight”, ‘ Glad Guava”, Luscious Lichi” is easily available on the shelves of every neighbourhood store. They have small packets equipped with a straw which are a big hit with the young generation.
I can understand the ease of cutting off a corner and pouring them into glasses ready to serve. And they are tasty too. Time after all is of essence nowadays.
However I still prefer the freshly squeezed variety of juices. I make it for my family sometimes in between them going in for the packaged stuff. What about you?
PHOTO:Limes in my parents' backyard.
25 people like this
24 responses
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
9 Mar 17
@Kandae11 Ok, basically it should be health more than taste. So, I'll rephrase- Time versus taste and hours versus health.
1 person likes this
@Kandae11 (55047)
•
9 Mar 17
@responsiveme I was thinking more in terms of health wise.
2 people like this
@paigea (36317)
• Canada
9 Mar 17
@responsiveme Mostly vegetables. Like corn, tomatoes, peas, beans, squash, cucumbers, lettuce, potatoes, carrots, beets. The fruit is mainly berries, - strawberries, raspberries. And some berries that grow wild, Saskatoon berries and chokecherries.
Commercially, fruit is not really grown in this province. (Alberta, Canada) We import apples, peaches, pear, everything like that.
2 people like this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
9 Mar 17
We have long summers...winter was very mild this year.What are the things you grow?
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
9 Mar 17
@paigea Those berries that you mention are exotic here. Recently there was the news that farmers are taking up strawberry cultivation.
The vegetables we seem to have in common:)
2 people like this
@besweet (9859)
• Ireland
9 Mar 17
I avoid packaged fruit juices, they have added sugars and other ingredients. I prepare freshly squeezed orange juice every morning and I eat other fruits during the day. I also have a juicer but it's too much trouble to clean the parts after making juice from the various fruits.
1 person likes this
@besweet (9859)
• Ireland
10 Mar 17
@responsiveme Yes we have local produces especially at my hometown. My mom brings me the best oranges when she come to visit. Do you have local producers at your place?
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
11 Mar 17
@besweet Yes, we do have local producers. Will post a pic of the local market sometime. Moms are the best, no matter how old you grow (i'm a middle aged mom myself) my mom always loads me with homegrown things when I visit.
I can picture your mom bringing over the best oranges.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
9 Mar 17
My juicer too lies unused..its easier to squeeze with the hands. Do you get plenty of oranges locally?
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
15 Mar 17
So you do it the easy way, just pour it out from cans or packets?
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
16 Mar 17
@jaboUK Where did my response disappear? Strange.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
10 Mar 17
Thats another aspect....mostly everybody I know now have moved away to cities and they don't have backyards.
1 person likes this
@avi256 (8489)
• Pune, India
19 May 17
@responsiveme Musk melon is my all time favorite.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
19 May 17
@avi256 here watermelon s are more common
1 person likes this
@BelleStarr (61102)
• United States
9 Mar 17
I keep fresh lemons for certain things but I buy my lemon and lime ades at the grocery.
1 person likes this
@BelleStarr (61102)
• United States
9 Mar 17
@responsiveme With only my husband and I at home now most of the time wee don't need very much.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
9 Mar 17
@BelleStarr But the grandsons keep coming , don't they. You get to enjoy their company, right?
1 person likes this
@sofssu (23662)
•
21 Dec 18
@responsiveme No actually i have acidity and lemon rind helps alkalize the body..I hav eno problems since I started this habit ten years ago.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
21 Dec 18
Don't you get acidity?
That bush gives plenty of limes
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
21 Dec 18
@sofssu They say that about tamarind also...Will check this out ...thanks
@LadyDuck (471573)
• Switzerland
9 Mar 17
@responsiveme In cakes they are delicious, but I also add the zests when I prepare fish fillets with a lime sauce.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
9 Mar 17
They are. There is a round variety too. I remember that my mother would use the zests too in lime curd and cakes.
1 person likes this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
29 Mar 17
If you have the time to make your own that seems like the better way since you know exactly what goes into each batch. A lot of the combinations sold here have additives which no one can pronounce. A lot of the simple flavors like OJ and others have only fruits in them, but we never really know how much of it is really the fruits and how much water was added.
I've never heard of black salt before. Are you talking about black pepper? And was the lime squash the same basic ingredients as when you made the juice fresh?
1 person likes this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
29 Mar 17
@responsiveme We now have an Himalayan salt in our stores, but it's pink in color. At least that's what I think it's called. Some think it's healthier than normal table salt but I don't think the verdict in completely in on that one yet.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
29 Mar 17
Black salt" is a type of rock salt, a salty and pungent-smelling condiment used in South Asia. It is also known as "Himalayan black salt"Kala namak is used extensively in South Asian cuisines of Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Pakistan as a condiment or added to chaats, chutneys, salads, all kinds of fruits, raitas and many other savory Indian snacks.,...Wikipedia.
Got that from the net, we don't usually use it in cooking.
For the squash, the ingredients were the same except for the preservative the canning centre person would put in towards the end.The other difference was the sugar was made into a syrup while when we make fresh we just stir the sugar till it dissolves.
Thanks for reading in detail:)
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
31 Mar 17
@MarshaMusselman Thats the one...when crushed it looks pink, otherwise it is a deep prrply colour...don't know why its called black..you can try sprinkling it over fresh fruits.
1 person likes this
@sol_cee (38219)
• Philippines
14 Mar 17
@responsiveme they are small round citrus fruits. Probably from the same family with lime. Second cousin maybe.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
14 Mar 17
What is calamansi? My mother too is a big believer in herbal remedies and so am I
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
9 Mar 17
Citrus fruits do not grow in my area and I am jealous that you get to see the fresh fruit in your backyard. We buy citrus fruit when its in season and fresh, we use the lemons and limes for cooking and the oranges and clementines we eat like candy...We buy the juice canned or frozen.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
9 Mar 17
@responsiveme You are absolutely right, we both are lucky on one side and not so lucky on the other... We have relatives in Florida and we see in her yards lots of fresh fruit that we can't grow.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
9 Mar 17
But you'll be having lots of fruits we don't get here...you said you live in the fruit belt and all those fruits you mentioned in an earlier discussion are exotic fruits here....some of which I have never tasted.
So I am jealous too. :)
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (340489)
• Rockingham, Australia
28 Mar 17
@responsiveme Vince thinks 'real' milk comes in cartons. :) He is a bit of a packaged stuff man too.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
28 Mar 17
My take too :) not my husband's though , he loves picking up those ready packaged stuff.
1 person likes this
@Fishmomma (11377)
• United States
2 May 17
When we bought this house, a juicer was included in the purchase, so making fresh homemade juice is easy. I just go out an pick some lemons and go to my greenhouse for strawberries and can make a quick pitcher of Strawberry Lemonade Juice.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
2 May 17
Sounds so delicious and refreshing.love to have a greenhouse
1 person likes this
@Nawsheen (28643)
• Mauritius
23 Jun 17
There is a great difference between those so called "natural" fruit juices sold in supermarkets and the one we make at home. I prefer the homemade ones. My grandma has a field and we have fruits like mandarin orange, lemons and in summer we get watermelons too. When visit grandma she usually prepares fresh fruit juices for us. I really like it. The taste itself is different.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
23 Jun 17
How lucky to have a field of fruits.
Yes, fresh is the best
1 person likes this
@FayeHazel (40243)
• United States
29 Mar 17
Oh wow - fresh, real, juice sounds fantastic. We don't have an citrus that grows naturally here - it's too cold. However when I was a kid - we would can garden vegetables. I didn't like it then, but I love it now. However, even when I was a kid, canning was not the norm....
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
31 Mar 17
We have plenty of limes and lemons but not peaches and strawberries...those are available but very expensive.
And yes, fresh lime juice in summer is out of this world
@diosabella (4789)
•
10 Mar 17
Fresh is always the best. No harmful additives that would make us hyper later on.
1 person likes this
@diosabella (4789)
•
11 Mar 17
@responsiveme And the free vitamins are awesome too.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
14 Mar 17
My hubby goes for the ready made one too unless I give him a freshly made juice
1 person likes this
@ShifaLk (17817)
• India
15 Mar 17
@responsiveme yeah I'm lazy to prepare
I hate to do any kitchen work
1 person likes this
