Jif (lemon juice)

Jif

A Jif lemon with the label attached
Product type	Lemon juice
Owner	Unilever
Produced by	Unilever
Introduced	1956
Markets	United Kingdom and Ireland
Previous owners	Reckitt and Colman

Jif is a brand of natural strength lemon juice prepared using lemon juice concentrate and water, whereby the concentrate is reconstituted using water. After reconstitution, it is packaged and marketed. It is sold in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Unilever. Jif is used as a flavourant and ingredient in dishes, and as a condiment. Two tablespoons is around the equivalent of the juice of one lemon. The product has a shelf life of six months.

Jif is packaged in a squeezable container shaped like a lemon, and in bottles. Development of the plastic container began in the 1950s, and was one of the original blow moulded containers used for food applications. Jif brand lemon juice was established in 1956.

The original notion of lemon juice being packaged inside lemon-shaped and coloured containers was the brainchild of Edward Hack in the 1950s. Bill Pugh, an English plastics designer, created a prototype based upon Hack's concept. The company Edward Hack, Ltd. then produced and marketed Hax brand lemon juice in the plastic containers, using juice from Sicily. Stanley Wagner of Coldcrops, Ltd. also independently designed a very similar package, which was used for Realemon brand lemon juice. Realemon was later renamed to ReaLem by Coldcrops. Hax lemon juice was the first to be packaged and marketed in said lemon-shaped container, with Coldcrops following shortly thereafter. A later agreement between Hax and Coldcrops led to Hax leaving the lemon juice business, whereby Coldcrops acquired the marketing rights for lemon juice in plastic lemon containers under the ReaLem brand. Coldcrops was acquired by Reckitt and Colman in 1956, which rebranded the product under the Jif brand name.

"The Jif Lemon case" occurred in the 1980s, whereby The U.S. company Borden introduced lemon juice packaged in a similar plastic container to the United Kingdom. This resulted in a lawsuit initiated by Reckitt & Coleman against Borden, based upon the notion that Realemon was attempting to copy Jif's packaging in attempts to mislead consumers, by passing off their product as Jif. The case was settled in 1990 in the Court of Appeal, which ruled in Reckitt & Coleman's favour.

Jif is sometimes used on pancakes, and was marketed in the past to be used on pancakes for Shrove Tuesday, with the slogan "Don't forget the pancakes on Jif Lemon Day".