It’s the ultimate timeless debate: Is lemonade a juice? Technically speaking, lemonade is not a juice, it’s a beverage. But, because it contains lemon juice, some people consider it just another form of juice. While it’s an incorrect statement, there are people who defend their position with ardent fervor.
Lemon juice is a clearly different thing than lemonade. Lemonade implies there are other ingredients, such as sugar, to produce the drink. Lemon juice is the liquid that comes right from the fruit itself and no other things come with it, save for maybe a little water.
1. Is Lemonade A Juice?
Lemonade isn’t a juice because of the obvious fact that it has things like water and sugar added to it. Now, if you only added water, it wouldn’t be lemonade. It would still be lemon juice. For something to be lemonade, it also has to have sugar or other type of sweetening agent.
But there are huge debates around this. People will argue that lemonade is simply another form of lemon juice. They’re partially correct and there’s actually good reason for them to believe this. But, it’s not the whole truth of it.
1.1. Defining “Juice”
Any kind of juice, not just lemon, must come directly from the fruit. There shouldn’t be any additional ingredients, except for some water. When other things go into the juice, it becomes a drink or beverage. This also means it should have some other name for it to indicate the difference.
Beverages are solely for drinking, such as is the case with lemonade. While you can drink lemon juice as a beverage, it also serves other purposes too. It can be an ingredient in a recipe, you can use it as a preservative, it can be a great cleaner and it can help lighten skin. You wouldn’t do all these with lemonade.
1.2. Sugar Changer Chemistry
When you add sugar, it changes the chemical makeup as well as the nutrient, vitamin and mineral content in lemon juice. Therefore, it fundamentally alters the benefits that normally come with plain lemon juice. Adding only water simply dilutes the constituents, it doesn’t change it.
1.3. Adding Ingridients Makes It Lemonade
Plus, there are two general types of lemonade depending on where you are in the world: cloudy and clear. You often find cloudy lemonade in places like the United States and South Korea whereas the clear is most common in the UK and Australia.
This is because of the ingredients used to make the lemonade which can range between adding sugar or corn syrup to carbonation and flash pasteurization. It’s these additives/processes that give lemonade either a cloudy or clear appearance.
When you squeeze fresh lemon juice, there’s only one type. It’s a light yellow liquid that will be somewhat translucent with pieces of pulp in it. It’s sour but packed with excellent nutrients for the ultimate in health.
1.4. Why People Say Lemonade Is A Juice?
On the other side of the debate, people consider lemonade a type of lemon juice. Many will cite their reasoning because of products they find at the store. Establishments sell and advertise their fruit beverages as “juice.” But this isn’t entirely true because of all the additives they put in their products.
Unless the product just contains the freshly squeezed fruit and water, then it is juice. But this isn’t a common industry standard. Because of spoilage, they have to add other things to it so it will keep on the shelves until consumers buy and take them home.
1.5. Commercially Produced Lemonades
Manufacturers will include chemical preservatives, such as sodium benzoate, and put it under flash pasteurization. These processes and additives change the components of the lemon juice to a rather unrecognizable state. They reduce its potential health benefits and increase natural acidity.
Also, many manufacturers put sugar or high fructose corn syrup into their juices. This technically changes it from an actual juice to a drink or beverage. This is why some people are very adamant about calling lemonade a juice. Since they call it juice at the store, it’s also juice at home.
1.6. Instant Lemonade Mixes
The argument becomes moot when you use a commercially-produced instant lemonade powder. This is because there are no lemons in it at all. There’s lemon flavoring, sugar and other additives. Ergo, this is not and never will be juice in any capacity.
2. What Kind Of Drink Is Lemonade? What Is Lemon Juice?
Lemonade and lemon juice are both beverages. But, lemon juice can go into many other things and recipes. You can’t really add lemonade to baking recipes, use it as a skin beautifier or clean your house with it.
Lemonade is a popular beverage consumed worldwide that incorporates things like additional water and copious amounts of sugar to dilute acidity. But it can also have other things mixed in like orange juice, apple juice or iced tea. Lemon juice comes straight from the fruit by cutting and subsequently squeezing it or using a juicer. This has no sugar or any other ingredients, but some additional water might mix in.
3. Is Lemonade Good For You? Is It Ok To Drink Lemon Juice Straight? What Is Healthier?
Lemonade is both good and bad for you. It’s good because lemon juice is high in vitamin C and other nutrients that help boost immunity and kill bacteria, germs and parasites. However, lemonade usually also has something like sugar to sweeten it up and mitigate the sour taste that forces your mouth to pucker.
3.1. Sugar is not healthy
Therefore, lemonade could be okay as a healthy drink if it uses a natural sweetener, like honey. But, considering how much sugar goes into an average batch of lemonade – about one cup per five cups of water – there’s nothing too healthy about it.
Sugar is the number one culprit when it comes to dental issues such as tooth decay and cavities. It’s also the source of diabetes and other sugar-related diseases. Plus, it’s a stimulant which means children will bounce off the walls.
3.2. Powderd mixes are not often healthy
Powdered mixes of lemonade aren’t often very healthy at all. It’s a conglomeration of chemical powders flavored in such a way as to resemble lemonade. Unless you source the powder from a producer that makes a pure product, it usually won’t be very healthy.
3.3. Lemon juice is very healthy
But straight lemon juice is healthy. It promotes mineral absorption into the body and helps with losing weight. It can sterilize, clean and purify the organs as well as blood circulation. It’s a superb cure for dehydration as well as for dizziness, weakness and fainting.
It decalcifies the pineal gland of fluoride toxicity, prevents infections and treats the seasonal flu. It helps the body maintain its pH balance and prevents kidney stones. If you add sugar to this, it will rob the juice of its healing capacities.
4. Conclusion
That said, as an official answer to “is lemonade a juice?” No, it’s not a juice because it will always incorporate other ingredients. But, if you’re one of those who believe it is juice, it’s not a crime to think so. However, it’s important to consider why you think this and from where it stems.
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