When life gives you lemons!

Its citrus season in Arizona and this this we have had a bumper crop. There are still lemons on our tree despite the baskets I have already picked.

Our lemons are big and juicy and since many people in Arizona have their own lemon trees there are only so many you can give away. The food bank eventually gets too many and you are left wondering how to use these beautiful fresh organic lemons. I almost cry when I hear people say put them down your sink grinder it will make your sink smell great. Yes for a 1/2 hour 🙂 Well I am up to the challenge. This year I have used up almost all of the lemons above and some of what was left on the tree. First I pick as many lemons as I want to work with and set aside a whole day of lemoning!

Lemon Zest

Many recipes call for lemon zest and during the year I have to go and pay anything up to a dollar for a lemon to get zest. But the cost is not even the main point its the fact that these beautiful fruits are totally organic when you zest them you are getting organic lemon zest with no nasty wax like you get on the store bought lemons.

I zest the lemons with a grater and I freeze the zest. I found these cute little baggies on Amazon originally for pills when travelling but now I use them to store my lemon zest. They hold one heaped tablespoon of zest. When I bag all the Zest I then put them in a bigger baggie and freeze them.

I now have beautiful zest all year round I take as many teaspoons out as I need and let them defrost. You can use them for recipes and on your asparagus tossed with butter or any vegetable that will taste better with lemon.

Lemon Juice

Nothing tastes better all year round that fresh lemonade. Once I have zested the lemons I juice them. I then store in one, two or three cup containers and freeze them. I get the containers from Amazon (Yeah I know I buy a lot on Amazon). I now have organic lemon juice to use all year round.

Lemon Marmalade

Lemon marmalade is just as nice as orange marmalade and you can store it for up to a year. Here is the recipe I used to make the marmalade. Making marmalade is not for the faint–hearted but this recipe was not too difficult for me. Lemon Marmalade from BBC Good Food