Jif (lemon juice)
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Jif is a brand of lemon juice sold in the United Kingdom and Ireland, by Reckitt & Colman. Notable for its unique plastic lemon containers usually known as "jiffy lemons" or "jif lemons", it is also sold in bottles. A well-known advertising campaign introduced the catch-phrase "Don't forget the pancakes on Jif lemon day." - due to the popularity of lemon juice (and specifically Jif) with pancakes on Shrove Tuesday.
The plastic lemon container was designed by Bill Pugh, working for a Leicester plastics company called Cascelloid. The company had a plastic-blowing machine - one of only two in the world at the time - and Pugh's first novelty design (launched in 1949) was a pink plastic teddy bear for baby powder.
The lemon, originally designed to contain lemon juice made by a company called Hax, soon followed. He made it by carving a lemon shape out of wood, and then covering it with real lemon peel before casting it in plaster - experimenting until he got the shape and feel just right. Reckitt & Colman bought the rights to the packaging and launched their Jif lemon in January 1957.
It's easy to see why the design was such a success. This was a clean and economical way to add a spritz of lemon to a dish without wasting unwanted juice or messing about with pips and pulp. And perhaps because of its shape, the housewife felt less guilty about not using real fruit, although what she was actually getting was lemon juice plus E223 (sodium metabisulphite) which acts as a preservative
