E9: 🍹Spritz and Glitz, For the Love of Lemons

Plus: Jelly sandals, 'whole body' deodorant, shower filters

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The Skinny Newsdesk
May 30, 2024

Good morning! Thanks for being a loyal reader (and, welcome back to those of you who may have been our original subscribers). 

Let’s get to today’s diet of healthy, snackable news: as always, The Skinny provides valuable (and entertaining) need-to-know items to improve your mood/mind/mojo. What we’re covering today in this “cool, fresh & clean” edition (which includes a summer playlist):

  • Lemons: in season. Cooking with them, lemon water hype, and reasons to invest in zest

  • All the reasons you don’t need "whole body deodorant” 

  • Summer cocktails: the spritz is here to stay  

  • Jelly sandals are the sweetest fashion item this season

  • What are the benefits of a showerhead water filter?

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In season

Lemons: a sweet and sour round-up

The Skinny: While the newest, and most “popular” ingredients often get a lot of attention in the media, today we savor and appreciate one of the classics: the lemon. While European lemons are often glorified, it’s worth noting that India and Mexico are the top global producers, and that most of our U.S. lemons are imported from Mexico or South America—or of course, grown in California and Florida. This updated “top 8 European lemons” list includes the sexiest of all, the Amalfi lemon, which are so sweet that they’re eaten plain with a little mint, salt and vinegar. As for Sicilian lemons, we might have to pick up this chic graphic tee (despite “Lemon Girl Style” being so 2023, which is filed under dumb trends). 

 Lemon water is also a wellness darling right now, and with it claims for everything from weight loss (which it doesn’t) to detox (also a myth). Anecdotally, we enjoy water in the morning with Himalayan salt—which is known as Sole (so-lay) water. This does seem to and this does seem to have actual benefits including stress reduction, better sleep and energy (particularly for believers in Ayurvedic principles).

Image from ‘Acid’ chapter of Nicole’s ‘Salt Fat Acid Heat’ book

Why you should cook with lemons is explained in detail in Samin Nosrat’s “Salt Fat Acid Heat,” a book we would HIGHLY recommend to learn the basics of how to make the most flavorful dishes (and the why behind these “elements of good cooking.” Lemons, like any acid, provide a critical balance to meals and she describes them as “salt’s alter ego.” Fun fact that we learned: the term “mouthwatering” refers to acid’s effect on your salivary glands. 

Do you need to invest in zest? If you have a regular old cheese grater, there’s no need to purchase a zester, but this writer—making a bold claim to use zest as a swap for salt pretty much anywhere—insists on a Microplane (which we also have and love). Here’s Gordan Ramsey demonstrating how to properly zest, being careful not to scrape through to the pith. Last tip, coming from a savvy reader: Your awesome new zester works for finely grated cheese, garlic and ginger—and for other citrus (she uses orange zest in beef stew). 

Last lemony tip: Freeze those lemon wedges and throw them in smoothies.

Hot take

Expanded deodorant offerings stink of over-marketing

Image by Cottonbro for Pexels

The Skinny: There’s a movement to stop spending money on non essential items, and if there ever was something that fit into this category, it’s “whole body deodorant.” And if the Economist is writing about this, the issue has clearly reached a critical mass of global proportions. 

We repeat: You do not need this. Just wash more, and hit up these five spots you’re probably forgetting about. That’s it. If you want to get down and dirty into the topic (and the science of sweat), this Vox article is the best we found, which asks: What the funk is going on?, and also concludes that nope, you don’t need this.   

In summary: Because we love Reddit threads, here’s a great one for anyone needing to vent about their hatred of Lume full body deodorant. Commenters said it best: “TAKE A SHOWER,” and “2 day old odor is cause 2 days u didn’t clean.” 

❝

Sweating is a human superpower. Few other species can use sweat to avoid overheating.

— Sarah Everts, author of “The Joy of Sweat” and quoted in Vox’s ‘Why are Whole Body Deodorants Suddenly Everywhere?’
Summer sips

Why we can’t quit the spritz

Jill’s ‘Tour de Spritz’ on a recent Paris trip

The Skinny: But first, a little history of how the Spritz became the official drink of summer. 

Jordan Salcito (Momofuku, Eleven Madison Park), an acclaimed master sommelier and inventor of Ramona, one of the first canned Spritzes, is quoted in the above saying that the concept of a spritz can be traced as far back as the ancient Romans and Greeks (once again!).

“Basically, it was considered very uncouth to be drunk at any meal, and the only one who was allowed to drink undiluted wine was Dionysus, the god of wine," he says. As a result, water was often splashed into wine, and it sometimes included berries, honey and flowers. 

While Delish is christening the “Porn Star Martini” as the official drink of summer 2024, we are sticking with the more classic spritzes that never go out of style. 

The reported “official rankings” are below, but we still love the OG Spritz and honestly, for a daytime cocktail, it can’t be beat due to its lower alcohol content. 

  • 2020: Aperol Spritz

  • 2021: Espresso Martini

  • 2022: Hugo Spritz

  • 2023: Porn Star Martini 

To create at home: The traditional Spritz is three parts prosecco, two parts aperitif (Campari and Aperol being the most popular) and one part soda water, garnished with an orange slice and a black olive (more on why to add olive brine, here). And because the spritz is all about glitz, you need the perfect glass, like so. 

Our favorite quick and dirty version is the humble white wine spritzer: fill any glass with ice, add 2 parts white wine (trust us, any bottle, box or bag is fine), 1 part club soda and our special touch is an orange slice. Hydrate or die, they say, so with that we can justify drinking them all afternoon.

Crème de la Skinny  

We’re jelly of the latest jellies

Photo by Ron Lach for Pexels

Jelly sandals are back and in sweeter flavors than ever before. Whether it’s the sold-out version from The Row, or our preferred Ancient Greek Sandals’ version, there’s plenty to choose from for your jelly fix—including one that is 100% recyclable (Melissa). Jill enjoyed the original Valentino version, which was lovingly worn until destroyed, but you can pick up a solid dupe here.

Must-have for summer ‘fits

Shower power

Should you invest in a shower head filter?

The Skinny: Let’s start at the source: this Scientific American article describes the path our water takes to our homes and explains what contaminates our water, how it gets there, and how to test it. 

Based on that above and assuming, like us, that you are using municipal water…you may want to consider a shower head filter. Chlorine can be a culprit, as well as heavy metals, when it comes to irritating our skin and drying out hair. A filter can help reduce the levels of these specific substances: chlorine, rust, and dirt are some of the top filtered materials. And lowering these levels in your shower water might offer health and beauty benefits over time.

Jill loves this Jolie filter, (guilty-as-charged, victim of influencer hype) but can report that her hair is easier to comb and style, and that her skin feels softer. We’ll leave you with the 10 best shower head filters to consider, courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens.

OHM, THERE'S MORE

This week’s newsfeed

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