Lemon vs lime vs orange juice in Marinade
 

Hi All,

I did search around to see if I could find the answer to my question, but I just couldn't find it. I remember seeing someone post the difference in carbs between using lemon juice and lime juice, but I couldn't find it. I think the consensus was that lemon juice was best, but that lime was a close second. I'm wondering how bad a small amount of fresh squeezed orange juice is when used in a marinade.

I made an absolutely fantastic version of Cuban mojo marinated pork loin roast. The original recipe called for a lot of orange juice, and then a little lemon juice. I switched it around and used 1/4c orange juice, approx. 1/2c lemon juice, 1/4c lime juice, and 1/4c olive oil. Then I made a paste of minced garlic, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper, poked holes all over the roast and smeared this mixture in all the holes. Then the roast marinated in the juice mixture overnight. To cook the next day, I took the roast out of the marinade, dried it off, seared on all sides, then placed in a roasting pan on top of some thick cut onions, and poured the marinade in the roasting pan. I put the onions in this way because I wanted the flavor of the onion, but I knew I couldn't eat cooked onions, and the recipe called for sliced onions to be added to the marinade in the roasting pan. After the roast was done, the recipe called for reducing the pan juices by half and using this as a sauce.

My roast was 3.1lbs, so I decided this was going to be 8 servings. So in all total, each serving would receive approx. 2 tablespoons of the marinade, or when reduced by half, 1 tablespoon of sauce. Each serving would have just a small amount of orange juice. Was this a major cheat? If so, I won't do it in the future, but damn this was delicious!

Wow, I'm surprised nobody commented on my post. Is it because I'm asking about orange juice? Should I have posted this somewhere else?I see people make a lot of swaps that aren't exactly OP. I'm simply asking if this is a very horrible swap. I'm doing alternatives so I don't have a coach I can ask, this board is my advice.

Thanks for any response. I'm planning on having leftovers for dinner tonight, so I would really like to know if I should avoid the extra reduced sauce.

From what I can see oranges have 3x the amount of sugar as lemons do which is probably why lemons are allowed and oranges aren't.

You obviously knew it was not on plan when you ate it the first time. If you are going to eat it again, just try to see if there is any effect with your losses. If you notice it is slowing you down, then don't have it again.

Personally, I've only used lemons and limes while on phase 1.

Im trying to avoid all fruits if possible to stay op...the only things i use are the true lemon/lime packets ...they also make a true orange packet....they are all listed at 0/0/0 i wonder if you could experiment using them instead while being on p1 ??

the other thing i use is sparkling ice, has 3% fruit juice and is also a 0/0/0 product...and i limit my intake of this, a lot.

agreed. i wouldn't jeopardize any potential losses with just an orange juice marinade. once you start making little exceptions with that, you'll start making little exceptions in other areas. try to stay as strict as possible in phase 1. it just makes things simple and easy. :)

Yes, it's a horrible swap. Orange juice is not permitted in P1. Sounds good though! ;)

If it's the sweetness of the OJ that's appealing in the marinade, you might try just adding a little Splenda. I've done that to replace the honey in my pork tenderloin marinade and it's worked well.

Thanks folks!

I am no longer on phase 1 and will definately try your recipe. Sounds yummy.