Preserving Lemons

Preserving lemons is simple and a wonderful way to enjoy this seasonal citrus year round without sacrificing flavor!

PRESERVING LEMONS

Every year about this time, my mother announces that their lemons are ready to be picked. This is said more with an expectation than as a random announcement. An expectation that I will pick them and do something with them so they don’t go to waste.

I’m completely okay with this. Especially now that I’ll be using her home and back yard as my homestead!

You see, she can feel good about her lemons being used and I get the opportunity to enjoy the lemons! But there are a lot of them, so I usually have to act pretty quickly. So what do I do with all those lemons?

1. I zest the rinds. Then I press that zest into an ice cube tray and freeze them so I have individual portions of the zest to bake with during the holidays.
2. I juice the lemons. The juice I also freeze into ice cubes. This gives me fabulous lemon water all summer long.
3. I dehydrate lemon slices. This is another great way to make sure your lemons last and all you have to do is drop a few in some water and let them do their thing. It gives a boring glass of water that extra something special. You can even use them in soups or on chicken!

So how long do these last in the freezer?

All year! In fact, I still have a few cubes left over from last years harvest and they are doing just fine! I realize, over time, the flavor and nutrients can fade a bit, but a year later, they still taste pretty darn good and add a plentiful amount of lemony flavor to whatever I use them in.

As for the dehydrated lemons…

This is the first year I’ve done this. So I’ll have to get back to you on that.

Need lemon recipes?

• Lemon Curd
• Lemon Bars
• Green Lemon Pineapple Smoothie
• Shrimp Scampi