Photos by Shoji Kudaka ()
When it comes to fruits that people love to eat, lemon may not be on the top of their list. According to YouGov, an international research and analytics group based in London, lemon is ranked 9th on the chart of the most popular fruits. In Japan, the story is not that different: the fruit is placed on 23rd by Japanese website Mina no Ranking.
If strawberry and green grapes were the rockstars that take center stage, lemon may be just a supporting cast. In the summer, however, the citrus fruit does have it’s time in the spotlight. Supermarkets and convenience stores around Japan will stock plenty of limited-time lemon-flavored snacks, sweets and drinks to refresh customers during the warm season.
Lemon’s popularity in summer is understandable due to the sour taste’s ability to cool us down and maybe even give us goosebumps. A recent article by Time Internet, a digital company out of India, listed some of the benefits of consuming lemon as strengthening the immune system, avoiding skin problems, making hair healthy, and subduing body odor.
Since the summer began in full swing on the island, I adopted the habit of eating lemon-flavored snacks after each meal. Though I really enjoyed the “cool” and “sweet” flavors of the lemon foods, I have also been concerned about having too many sugary foods. So, instead I looked for a healthy alternative to my summer snack time and found a recipe for lemon gelatin.
The recipe contains a small amount of sugar, but its sweetness is restrained. The lemon gelatin’s smooth texture makes the acidity easy to consume and it’s very easy to cook.
Top with mint leaves to give it a restaurant quality before serving. Cool off with this delicious gelatin and enjoy lemon, this season’s star fruit!
Ingredients
Powdered gelatin 10g
Hot water 500ml
Lemon juice 45ml (To prepare this, I squeezed a lemon)
Sugar 30 ml (add some if you like it very sweet)
Mint leaves (as many as you like)
Recipe (adapted from Ajinomoto)
1 Juice lemon until you have 45 milliliters.
2 Pour 50 ml of hot water into a heat-resistant bowl and add in powdered gelatin (10g). Mix until the powered gelatin dissolves. Add in remaining hot water, lemon juice (45ml), and sugar (30ml) and mix well.
3 Pour the mixture into a tray. Once it cools down, put the tray in a refrigerator and further cool it down to fixate it.
4 Slice the jelly into small pieces with a fork and serve it up on a plate or a cup. Top it with mint leaves.
5 いただきます (Bon appetit)!
