"MORE LEMONS IN SINK THAN SIP 🍋"

The other day, while sitting in class, my professor made a sarcastic comment that made everyone laugh—“You’ll find more original lemon in dishwashing liquid than in your juice.” It was funny at first, but the more I thought about it, the more it stuck with me. How did we end up in a world where cleaning products proudly claim to have real lemon, while the lemon juice we drink is often filled with artificial flavors?

It’s strange, isn’t it? When you look at a dishwashing liquid bottle, you’ll often see big, bold words like “Real Lemon Power” or “With Natural Lemon Extract.” But if you pick up a bottle of packaged lemon juice, you’ll notice that it contains mostly water, artificial lemon flavor, citric acid, and preservatives. The irony is that the thing meant for washing dishes is marketed as being more natural than the thing meant for drinking!

The reason behind this is simple—cost and convenience. Fresh lemon juice spoils quickly, so companies prefer to use artificial flavors to give that tangy taste while making it last longer on store shelves. Meanwhile, the natural citric acid in lemon is useful for cleaning grease, so dishwashing liquid brands highlight it as a key ingredient. And since people associate lemon with freshness and cleanliness, they are more likely to trust a product that claims to have real lemon, even if it’s just a tiny amount.

Thinking about this took me back to my childhood. I remember my grandmother making fresh lemon juice during summer. She would cut the lemons, squeeze out the juice, add some water and sugar, and hand it to me with a smile. That taste was irreplaceable—refreshing, slightly sour, and just perfect. Today, when I buy lemon juice from a store, it tastes completely different. It’s sweeter, lacks the natural tanginess, and feels artificial. What’s even funnier is that our dishwashing liquid at home smells more like real lemons than the juice I drink.

This made me realize how much we’ve moved away from real, natural ingredients. We’re okay with artificial flavors in our food, but we demand “real lemon” in things we don’t even consume. It’s not just about lemon juice—it’s the same with fruit-flavored candies that contain no real fruit, strawberry milkshakes made with artificial essence, or even honey bottles filled with sugar syrup instead of actual honey. Somewhere along the way, we got used to these substitutes, and now we don’t even question them.

I’m not saying we should stop buying packaged drinks or start squeezing fresh lemons every day. But maybe we should pay more attention to what we consume. The next time you pick up a bottle of lemon juice, check the label and see if it actually has real lemon. And when you squeeze dishwashing liquid onto a sponge, smile at the funny reality that your plates might be getting more of the real thing than you are.