When life gives you lemons – Don’t make lemonade
Every year my mums lemon tree’s fruit and and there is a glut of bright, beautiful lemons. My generous mum gives as many as she can to friends and family but often there are still many left under the trees waiting to be useful. So why would I want to preserve these powerhouse fruits? Many of you will know that lemons are beneficial to your health due to their high amount of vitamin C, and is great for kickstarting your metabolism, but what else can this amazing fruit do? Lemons also contain various flavonoids, polyphenols and other organic acids while their skins contains a healthy dose of soluble fibre. In several medical research studies lemons have demonstrated their use in reducing blood pressure, protecting against age related cognitive disease, reducing recurrent kidney stones, supporting gut health, lowering LDL cholesterol, strengthening your immune system and reducing inflammation.
So back to the lemons. Fruits and veggies are always at their best when in season, its then that they are at their nutritional peak. Just like our ancestors, harvesting, storing and preserving produce at its peak means we always have them available when we need them and helps to reduce food waste, buying overseas produce, and buying out of season . And sometimes its just really good to have something on hand when we don’t have time to get to the shops for that elusive item. So here are my tips for storing, preserving and creating some amazing things with the sunniest of fruits.
lemon skins have a more subtle lemon flavour then the juice but often we forget about using it. Lemon peel powder adds the most amazing lemon flavours to all dishes where you would ordinarily use juice (or zest) and reduces the number of naked lemons that end up drying out in our fridges. Peel as many lemons as you have, wash and pat them dry, Spread on an oven tray and dry in a very low oven (80-90 degrees). They will feel crispy when dry but remain the same yellow colour. Once dry pop into a blender or spice grinder and turn into a fine powder. Store in an airtight jar.
squeeze the juice of your lemons (that you used above) into a jug, pour into ice cube trays and freeze. Pop the cubes into a storage container for fresh lemon juice whenever you need it.
make preserved lemons. Find a large jar and sterilise it using boiling water (or on a hot cycle in the dishwasher). Work out how many lemons fill it. Cut each lemon into quarters ( just make sure one end holds all the pieces together so your lemon doesn’t fall apart). Fill each lemon with sea salt and then pack all the lemons into the jar tightly. Fill with filtered water and then let magic happen ( you can add flavours to your lemons like peppercorns, peeled garlic cloves or fresh herbs ). They are good to go after 1-2 months depending on your climate ( they will ferment faster in hot weather).
ok yes you can make lemonade but try it with frozen lemons. Add a few lemons to the freezer. Freeze them. Place them in a (very) powerful blender and blend them skin and all. Strain. Add preferred sweetener and water.
Make a lemon cake using the juice and zest or if your brave use the recipe for a whole orange cake and use whole lemons instead.
If you use a lemon just for juice and can’t skin it, collect the lemon leftovers in a jar and fill with a half and half mix of white vinegar and filtered water. Leave for a fortnight away from sunlight, then pour into a spray bottle. This works as a beautiful fresh cleaning spray, room deodoriser and kitchen cleaner ( great after cooking with fish/seafood). I’ll mention its works a treat as a car spray and wipe for those with kids and dogs to get rid of that smell (and yep i know you know what i mean).
Lemon skins make excellent pot scrubbers. Add a sprinkle of salt to the lemon skin then turn it over and use as you would a pot scrubber. The skin has powerful grease removing properties, removes food smells while the salt helps to remove cooked on food. This trick works great on dirty smelly sinks too with an added sprinkle of bicarb soda.
