Hi Everyone,
Today I am sharing with you a “How To” post. My boss has 3 lemon trees in his yard and I will tell you, each tree gives a different kind of lemon. The one tree has tiny lemons, I swear they are Meyer Lemons, but he said nope. The other tree is traditional basic lemons. The third tree gives gigantic lemons and I mean some as big as a basketballs. No I am not kidding. It’s like lemons on steroids. Well my boss gave me all of these lemons and the regular and small ones I pretty much used in recipes, but what do I do with these gigantic lemons? My boss said they are perfect for using the peel for cooking. When you cut the lemon it is mostly rind. I thought , oh my gosh, I need to preserve these lemons because I won’t be able to use all of these lemons.
If your like me, I love adding a pinch of lemon zest in different recipes. Their great in cakes, cookies, pasta, chicken and so much more. With lemon season in full swing I figured today would be a good way to tell you how to preserve the lemon zest and the juice.
This is so simple, you’ll be like really? All you need to do is zest your lemons into a bowl. Do not use the white part of the skin, just the yellow. Cut a few small pieces of plastic wrap and scoop out a teaspoon or tablespoon size of zest from the bowl and place onto the plastic wrap. Bundle up the wrap and place in a freezer safe bag or container. When you need lemon zest it is already measured out for you.
Another method that I heard about is cutting the lemons in half, juice them and then freeze the lemon halves. When you need zest, just take your zester on the frozen lemon and it zests like powdered snow. I haven’t tried that method, but I heard it works.
Once you zested your lemons, squeeze the juice into a measuring cup and pour into ice-cube trays and freeze. When you need lemon juice, just pop a cube from the tray. This is great for adding into your cups of water.
- Lemons
- Plastic Wrap
- Freezer Bag
- knife
- With your zester, zest the lemon rind into a bowl. Only use the yellow part of the lemon. The white part can be bitter.
- Make small little squares with the plastic wrap about 2" x 2". Place one teaspoon or tablespoon size of zest into the center of the plastic wrap. Bundle it up and place in a freezer bag or a freezer safe container.
- When you need lemon zest for a recipe, just let it thaw on the counter or place directly into your recipe. Freezing it into individual packets makes it for easy measuring for a recipe.
- Another way is, cut the lemon in half, juice it and freeze the lemon halves. When you need zest, just use a zester and it will zest like lemon powered snow. (I have not tried this method)
- To preserve the juice, just cut the zested lemon in half and place into ice cube trays. Once the cubes freeze you can place them into a freezer bag for easy grabbing.
So next time you come into a bundle of lemons, and you can’t use it all. Just preserve it! This method is very easy, great to use in so many recipes. Plus if you have Meyer Lemons, preserve that rind and juice! They are not in season long enough to enjoy.
Have a wonderful day!
Toodles,
Jennifer
