What Is Citric Acid?

What Is Citric Acid?

Citric acid is a weak acid that is found naturally in all citrus fruits. If you’ve ever sunk your teeth into a lemon, you've tasted citric acid. Manufacturers add a man-made version of it to processed foods. Medicines with citric acid in them treat health issues like kidney stones.

Sources of Citric Acid

It's not just sour citrus fruits that have citric acid. All plants and animals have small traces of it. Many packaged food and nonfood items, like cosmetics and cleaning products, also contain citric acid, but a manufactured version, not the type that you find in nature.

Natural sources of citric acid

Foods that are high in natural citric acid are citrus fruits, especially the juice of lemons and limes. Other fruits and vegetables also contain some natural citric acid.

These foods have the highest amounts of naturally occurring citric acid:

·         Lemons

·         Limes

·         Oranges

·         Grapefruits

·         Berries