Looking for the best fun facts about lemons? From a high source of vitamin C to anti-bacterial properties, check out these surprising lemon facts now!
For us, lemons are life. You might not be able to peel and eat them like an orange, but they’re one of the most versatile fruits around.
Whether making a yummy lemon drizzle cake or a spicy lemon chicken curry, you can use this fruit in both sweet and savory cooking.
Also, it’s not just cooking! Lemons make be used in medicine, to clean your kitchen or even to dye your hair. How many fruits can you do that with!?
In this article, you’ll find loads of fun facts about lemons that’ll really surprise you.
For instance, do you know that they were first introduced in 200 AD in southern Italy? Later, people started to cultivate them in Iran and Egypt in 700 AD.
Surprisingly, lemons were first introduced in America in 1493. The best part is that Christopher Columbus brought lemon seeds to America. As if Columbus wasn’t a legend enough, he also brought exotic fruits to different parts of the world.
If you want to learn some more lemon facts, then keep on reading! Hopefully by the end of this article you’ll love lemons as much as we do!
Contents:
16 Fun Facts About Lemons
1. Lemons originated from Asia
Did you know lemons originated from Asia? Even though they’re now more associated with Florida and southern Europe, lemons first came from North Burma, Northeast India, and China.
2. Lemons are the best source of vitamin C
Move aside oranges, we have a new champion of vitamin C. If you have a vitamin C deficiency, incorporate lemons into your daily diet. One single lemon offer 53 mg vitamin C per 100 grams. And if you use the peel, this is a whopping 123 mg vitamic C per 100 grams. This is a lot more than most fruits, so eat more lemons!
3. Trees produce a surprising quantity of lemons
This one is a little difficult getting your head around, but we’ve crunched the numbers. A large lemon tree in a commercial orchard can produce around 500-600lbs (226-272kg) of lemons in a single year. This is 1,000s of lemons from a single tree per year! Isn’t that mad?
4. You can get lemons throughout the year
If you love lemons in everything, there is good news for you. Lemon trees produce lemons throughout the year, allowing you to enjoy their flavorsome taste in every season.
5. Lemon tree leaves make for a delicious tea
Did you know you can use the leaves from a lemon tree to make a surprisingly delicious tea? It has a citrus note from the lemons and is packed full of antioxidants that are good for you.
6. Lemons make for a great cleaning agent
This is one of those lemon facts that has been passed down from generation to generation. Because lemons have suhc high levels of acidity, they are great for cleaning stains around the house.
7. Lemon trees have long lives
If you provide good care to prevent pesticides, the average life expectancy of a lemon tree is around 50 years. If you really take care of them though, they can live up to 100 years. By our calculations, that could be over 270,000 lemons from a single tree in its lifetime!
8. Lemon trees change color over time
When young, lemon tree leaves have a reddish color. The color turns green after some years which is when they start producing the best lemons.
9. Lemons start off as flowers
Before becoming lemons, these citrus fruits are flowers. They have a mild fragrance and reddish buds. The open flowers have 4 to 5 petals each 3 centimeters long. These petals are white, purplish, and yellow.
10. Lemons are very healthy for you
People who are on a low-calorie diet can make their food delicious with lemon juice. This is because each lemon offers only 15 calories, and that’s for the whole lemon! From using them in tonics to sugarfree lemonades, they’re super tasty.
11. Lemons have anti-bacterial properties
One of the interesting facts about lemons is that they can improve your sore throat. This happens because of their anti-bacterial property. So, the next time you have a bit of soreness in your throat, drink hot water with lemon juice.
12. Lemon juice prevents other fruits from going rotten
By sprinkling a few drops of lemon juice on different fruits, you can prevent them from turning brown and going mouldy. If you have purchased more fruits than you can consume, it is best to store them after massaging them with lemon juice. Also, you can slice up your lemons and freeze them for the future.
13. You can use lemon juice to dye your hair
Do you want natural highlights? Then get a lemon and squeeze it on your head! The acidity in the lemon juice can give you natural highlights when you’re outside in the sun. You need to apply lemon juice daily to your hair for a week to get the best results.
14. There is a huge lemon festival in France
Want to show your love for lemons? Then get yourself over to the Fête du Citron (Lemon Festival) in the city of Menton in France.
For more than 15 days in February, you can enjoy the parades, admire the citrus gardens or taste your way through the different types of lemons. Over 200,000 people attend every year, so this isn’t your small local festival! It’s basically the Glastonbury of the lemon world.
15. Lemons can provide energy
You can genuinely use lemons like batteries to provide energy. Confused? Then let us explain it.
If you want to power a simple LED bulb, you can use the power of just 4-6 lemons to provide an electrical current. This is often a fun science experiment that kids do in school.
16. A lot of lemons from just two places
The twos states of California and Arizona produce 95% on the entire lemon crop in the world. That’s a lot of lemons from just two places!
Who wants more fun facts?
If you’re looking for some recommendations, these are a few of our favorite fact books to buy. We use these when planning fun trivia nights with family and friends!
