What is the difference in flavour between the zest of an orange vs lemon vs lime

Question

I am anosmic (do not have a sense of smell) and therefore am reduced in my perception of flavours to the flavours my tongue can detect, every time I zest a citrus fruit I always hear everyone talk of the smells released and how full of lovely flavours they are, however when I asked them what the distinct flavour each zest gives off I am generally given vague answers that don't help me much, such as

"Orange is generally a full flavour with sweetness, lemons is sharp and lime is sharp and sour"

The reason for asking this question is as a follow up from my previous question on homemade lemonade flavour enhancing, I would like to know what (if any) is the difference in flavour released by the essential oils within the zest of different citrus fruits (lemon, lime and orange). So maybe phrasing it in terms of what flavours they enhance within a lemonade may help hone your answer to my goal of balancing my lemonade even further; though I will probably find it super useful for the rest of my cooking.

Answer 1

If you can't taste it, but others can, chemical composition of the essential oils might prove a useful guide for you.

Ingredients of Orange, Lemon and Lime oils:

First line shows components common to two or more of the fruits. Second line shows components unique to each fruit.

lemon oil

a-pinene, b-pinene, myrcene, limonene, linalool, sabinene, neral

camphene, a-terpinene, b-bisabolene, trans-a-bergamotene, nerol

–––––––––––––––––––––––

Lime oil

a-pinene, b-pinene, myrcene, limonene, linalool,

terpinolene, 1,8-ceneole, borneol, citral and traces of neral acetate and geranyl acetate. ––––––––––––––––––––––––

orange oil

a-pinene, myrcene, limonene, linalool, sabinene, neral

citronellal, gerania

–––––––––––––––––––––––

Looking up the flavors of the unique ingredients should provide a better, more useful answer than "full flavour with sweetness" or "sharp and sour". Looks like the Handbook of Fruit and Vegetable Flavors would be a good place to find this information, but it's a bit on the pricey side.

Answer 2

Unfortunately, flavor is extremely difficult to describe; generally making comparisons is about the best we can do. Your quote is pretty good at describing the differences, certainly better than I could do.

Of course, if you're making lemonade for yourself the only person you have to please is yourself. If you're making lemonade to share, then I recommend the scientific approach. Accuracy in this kind of thing requires a gram scale. You can get an excellent gram scale on Amazon, reasonably accurate to the .01 gram, for under $20. A tube of disposable 2 ounce portion cups can be found on Amazon, Sam's Club, or any restaurant supply place. Those or a box of Dixie cups can hold identical product for as many people as are tasting. Conveniently, you can use a Sharpie to keep track of what cup has what lemonade.

Be sure that you're only including the colored part of the peel, the pith of all citrus fruits is bitter - beyond what most people can enjoy.

Consider various sweeteners, extracts, flavor oils and salt as well, to achieve your ultimate lemonade.