How True Citrus is Like Sugar and Salt

How can all-natural True Citrus have no calories and no sodium but still be a lot like the stuff in your sugar bowl or salt-shaker?

If you guessed it’s because all three were once liquids, you are correct!

Sugar Crystals

Until about 350 AD, the only way to get sugar was to chew sugar cane. Then, people in India discovered how to solidify the sweetness by pounding the plant to release the juice, then boiling it or drying it in the sun. The result was the sweet powdery stuff that people the world over are just crazy for (now sugar also comes from crystallized beetroot juice).

Salt Crystals

Salt crystals have been around a lot longer than sugar.  Theory has it that the salt trade came into existence about 4000 BC, when man became a farmer dependent on fresh water, and needed the extra salt to supplement the sodium he used to get in his meat-based, hunter-gatherer diet.

The salt crystals he hungered for were mined from underground sediments left over from ancient seas, or were made by evaporating salty water from brine springs.  

Lemon, Lime, Orange and Grapefruit Crystals

True Citrus’ history starts with a sugar packet as its inspiration.  It just made sense that juice from fresh lemons could be crystallized like sugar cane juice or salt water.  That would mean that lemon could sit in a caddy or come from a shaker, and also that it could be used just like sugar or salt in baking and cooking. 

True Citrus is not only dried, however. The fresh citrus fruits are first cold-pressed, just like the best olive oil. In cold-pressing, the fruit is crushed with a stainless steel press in which the temperature is controlled so the fruit’s flavor, aroma and nutritional value are preserved.  After that, the pure citrus liquid is crystallized through evaporation. The result: crystals of real citrus with peak of freshness flavor.

So that’s how True Citrus is a lot like sugar or salt, and why you can use it just like sugar or salt. The big difference of course, is that with True Citrus, all you will get is pure flavor, without extra sugar that will affect your weight and insulin levels, or salt that will affect your blood pressure.