Using the whole lemon to make lemon juice for lemon bars?

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pengyou

Senior Cook
Joined
Feb 14, 2011
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I have found some recipes for lemon bars that all look pretty good. My question - I have a masticating juicer and when I make veggie juice I often put the whole lemon into the juicer, peel and all. Can I do the same for the lemon bars? Would it make it tarter?
 
Yes, the white part is between the outer peel and the pulp. When you make juice, does it taste good to you? If so, then I guess go ahead with this.

Personally, I like tart lemon bars. I grate / zest the washed outer peel and add the juice. It's has a full lemon flavor.
 
When I was a kid my mother made lemon juice, from fresh, real (GASP) lemons. She would juice the lemons, add water then thinly slice what was left of the lemons into a bowl and smush it up with sugar (REAL sugar, GASP) and add this to the lemon juice!

I can still taste it! It was marvelous and not at all bitter.
 
Some lemons have thin skins so the white pulp doesn't add much bitter taste to juices. Other varieties have a thick layer of white pulp that is beyond bitter. In your kitchen you are the boss and have control over the lemons. Use the parts you like.
 
Limit yourself to using the juice and the yellow zest of the lemon. Together they will give you lemon bars with no chance of bitterness.
 
Why not just throw a lemon into your juicer and taste the results for yourself. If it's too bitter, don't do that any more. Just use a zester and then a reamer or a squeezer to get the juice.
 
Some lemons have thin skins so the white pulp doesn't add much bitter taste to juices. Other varieties have a thick layer of white pulp that is beyond bitter. In your kitchen you are the boss and have control over the lemons. Use the parts you like.

The same with oranges--- thick skins. I almost never buy oranges or lemon that have thick skins. At the price of them now-----I don't want to pay for while stuff.

Except I have been guilty of eating all the white stuff (pith) from my peeled oranges. I didn't find them bitter at all, at least not like lemon pith.

I just looked this up:
"The white part of the rind, including the pith, has nearly the same amount of vitamin-C as the flesh and contains sources of pectin. Pectin is a soluble dietary fiber with potential to lower serum cholesterol, relieve diarrhea, act as an immune system stimulant and as anti-ulcer agent."
 
I have in my fridge a jar of thinly sliced lemons cooked in simple syrup. Peel, pith and flesh. I use them for lemon poppy seed bread. The simply sugar covers the bitterness of the pith. :angel:
 

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