Lemons

[Jeffie]

I have lemons come out of my ears! Any ideas for preserving the lemons (apart from the quarter & salt preserving method? Can I just freeze the juice? and what about the zest, how do I preserve or freeze that best?

[Jeffie]

thanks for the ideas. What would you use the syrup for? I've never had lemon jam before, will have a look for a recipe!

Geoffrey Grigg said:

sorbet

cordial

jam (marmalade)

syrup (for use throughout the year)

[Daniel Andrews]

I make cordial from frozen juice and zest in freezer bags i use lemonades and grapefuit and tangelos and i still have tons of fruit left to do something with i do 2kg of sugar too 6 juiced lemonades four have the zest grated off i add 30g of citric and tartaric acid and then i add it into a big soup pan and simmer it all up, so the sugar dissolves then i bottle it and let it cool it last for ages in the fridge you just add 3cm into the bottom of a three litre juice bottle and dilute

[Megan]

Lemon cordial recipe that Kali has taste tested and approved :)

300gr barley

1litre water

1.5 litres lemon juice

1.5 kg sugar

If using fresh lemons, finely pare the peel off the lemons taking as little pith as possible, otherwise use a couple of tablespoons frozen zest. Rinse barley and bring to boil in 1 litre water with the peel. Simmer until barley is soft.

Strain barley and boil the liquid with the sugar. When the sugar is completely dissolved, add the lemon juice and adjust to taste. If too sweet, add more lemon juice.

Pour into screw top bottles leaving a good 2" gap at the top and sterilise bottles in a hot water bath for at least 1 hour. I don't add any citric or tartaric acid so the water bath is a precaution against the cordial fermenting and going off.

I ask all my friends to keep their 375ml sauce bottles and the juice bottles with screw on pop tops which are a good size for batches of cordial.

The next lot that I make, I'm not going to add any sugar so that I can add honey when I make it up.

I freeze the cooked barley into single servings and take it to work for lunch - great with miso soup and dried seaweed or else add it to soups.

I also freeze my lemon juice but I put them in silicon texas muffin tins which hold 200ml juice and when solid, put them in ziplock bags.

 

[Kali]

Thanks Megan, it tastes so good,

I thought it must have barley in it because it is slightly thick. don't know that my little lemon tree is going to provide 1.5 L of lemon juice though!

[Lynn]

Freezing zest - wash the lemons and dry well. Remove the zest, place loosely on a tray and put in freezer. after a couple of hours, you can remove, crumple into a plastic bag or container, and put back in the freezer. freezes well, and free flow. Easy to use.

Lemon cordial - equal amounts of lemon juice, water, and sugar (1 litre lemon juice, 1 litre water, 1 kilo sugar). Put water and juice in large pan, add a handful of zest and bring to the boil (can add mint, or lemon balm here if you wish) - let simmer for about 20 minutes then strain. Put hot liquid back in pot and add sugar. Stir to dissolve. Cool mixture and bottle. We use about 350 mls of this cordial to almost 3 litres of water, but you can adjust to taste.

Lemon juice freezes well for making the cordial later. I freeze into 500ml lots so it is easy to measure out to the above recipe.

Have fun...sure wish I had a ton of lemons! LOL

[Megan]

there's another discussion here about using up your lemons that Isabell compiled.

[Jacinta O'Reilly]

Spicy preserved lemons are yum- and make a great present too. I put two whole quarters in with rice to cook- I never scrape the centre out, and can't imagine why one would! Also great in lentils, stir-fried with cabbage, with indian curry or thai...

recipe here: http://tigressinapickle.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-favorite-preserved-...

The Hungry Tigress has some of the best saurkraut and pickle recipies on the web, imho.