# Lemon Juice Question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-juice-question/100988>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 31, 2002, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-juice-question/100988 "2002-03-31T00:11:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dragongirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b38774/32.png) [@dragongirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragongirl)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-juice-question/100988/1 "2002-03-31T00:11:26Z")

</div>

So, I made cole slaw to have with our holiday dinner tomorrow, the recipe called for 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, I put it in and made a big pile of cole slaw. A few hours later, I noticed that the expiration date on the lemon juice was 8/01. Does this mean that I’ll be making my family sick if I serve it or does it mean that the slaw just won’t taste all that great ?

Thanks

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![3waygeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e95f7d/32.png) [@3waygeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3waygeek)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-juice-question/100988/2 "2002-03-31T00:14:08Z")

</div>

The expiration date is probably a “sell by” date – if the juice was kept refrigerated, and the container is intact, you’ll probably be OK.

Anyway, you shouldn’t be using the bottled stuff; fresh from the lemon tastes much better 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dragongirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b38774/32.png) [@dragongirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragongirl)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-juice-question/100988/3 "2002-03-31T00:19:31Z")

</div>

I didn’t have it refridgerated, but the cap was on.😕

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-juice-question/100988/4 "2002-03-31T02:52:17Z")

</div>

Lemon juice is too acidic to allow much of anything to grow in it. Over time it will react with oxygen in the air and turn a brownish color, but that’s not likely to hurt you.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-juice-question/100988/5 "2002-03-31T07:42:15Z")

</div>

I noticed that lemon juice will “go bad” after a while - we have a couple glass bottles of it in the cupboard (previously opened but capped), and I saw that they went a brownish color and had some sort of precipitate in the bottom. It still tasted like sour, but not very good at all. Not bacterially dangerous I think, but just tastes bad.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-juice-question/100988/6 "2002-03-31T09:08:56Z")

</div>

Under no circumstances should you tell any of you relatives that you didn’t use real lemons. :rolleyes: