Author Topic: Lemons everywhere - recipes please  (Read 7035 times)

deborah

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Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« on: December 18, 2015, 09:58:21 PM »
My lemon tree seems to be having a melt down. I picked buckets of lemons, and have converted many of them into frozen juice, lemon syrup, lemonade, sparkling lemon drink, and I plan to make some lemon butter (although it doesn't keep long, so I can't make much). But I am running out of ideas, and my freezer is full.

What do you do with your largess? They are very ripe, and are literally falling off the tree.

In a similar vein, I also have far too many grapefruit.

Note: We are going through a hot spell at the moment, with many parts of Australia expecting to break records this week, so I need ideas quickly, especially ones that don't involve heating the house up for hours.

Astatine

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #1 on: December 18, 2015, 10:24:42 PM »
Do you have neighbours you can give some to? Or trade for something they're growing?

If your freezer wasn't full, I would suggest cutting lemons into wedges and freezing as is. The frozen wedges can be used in cold drinks (eg G&T or even just a glass of water), or I've occasionally used them in rice dishes for a hit of acidity, and removed them before serving.

With fresh lemons, I often put lemon zest and lemon juice in savoury dishes, like soups or rice dishes or on fish. But that only uses up a quarter of a lemon at most.

The only thing I've made from excess lemons (from a colleague - I haven't been game to plant one yet) is lemon meringue pie, but that involves an oven and ovens are ugh in this heat.

11ducks

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #2 on: December 18, 2015, 11:08:56 PM »
Local markets? Alternately, if you know of any locals with other fruit in season (ie they may have way too many oranges), do a trade.

Alternately, consider donating to the local meals on wheels?

Dollar Slice

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #3 on: December 18, 2015, 11:55:41 PM »
Lemon curd? Granita/sorbet? (You'd need to find a little freezer space for that, I guess... but you can use grapefruit too.)  Some candies you could give away for little holiday gifts -

Jelly candies (calls for lemon/lime but I'm sure you could sub all lemon, or grapefruit):
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/acid-jellies-recipe.html

Hard candies:
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Lemon-Drops

Haven't tried those recipes myself, just posting them for an example...

galliver

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #4 on: December 19, 2015, 01:20:01 AM »
Could you try making a solar oven?

Then you could make this: http://kitchen.galanter.net/2011/08/25/lemon-bars-with-sour-cream-crust/

Though I'm not sure the crust it's quite right. My mom would throw frozen margarine with the floor into the food processor and pop the dough in the fridge at regular intervals to get a really, really flaky crust. (You could also make any other pies, lemon bars etc, maybe?)

Mrs. PoP

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #5 on: December 19, 2015, 03:15:14 AM »
I saw this recipe yesterday and can't wait for lemon season here to try it! 

http://www.hippressurecooking.com/candied-lemon-peels-new-pressure-cooker-technique/

Could make awesome holiday gifts and if you have an electric pressure cooker not heat up the house at all!


MMMaybe

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happy

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #7 on: December 19, 2015, 03:47:24 AM »
If you put the peels/skin into white vinegar and let them steep you get fantastic lemony vinegar which is great for cleaning…nice citrus smell.

Catbert

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #8 on: December 19, 2015, 10:06:22 AM »
Lemon curd.  Grapefruit curd.  Yum, but so fattening.

Preserved lemons (also works with limes).  A jar of these middle eastern salted lemon can last in the frig for up to a year.  Perfect in a gin and tonic or chopped in a salad dressing.  More traditionally in middle eastern savory dishes.

Lemon chicken.

Little Nell

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #9 on: December 19, 2015, 11:51:37 AM »
Preserved lemons for making Moroccan food?

MsPeacock

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes plea
« Reply #10 on: December 19, 2015, 01:27:54 PM »
Lemon marmalade. Marmalade is easy to make and can, and can be done with any fruit.

Lemon vodka!


With This Herring

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #11 on: December 19, 2015, 02:48:21 PM »
All wrong.  Send them to meeeeeeeeeee!!!  :)

Seriously, though, I second the suggestion to sell what you can't use/save.  If you have freezer space, you could save out the pulp in gallon bags to make pies in the cold season (or at least cooler season).  Then save the scraped-out peels in a separate bag to freeze for zesting and candied peels later.  Freezing the two separately may make using them later easier.

MicroRN

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #12 on: December 19, 2015, 03:49:51 PM »
Shaker Lemon Pie.  It uses sliced lemons, skin and all.  http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Shaker-Lemon-Pie

Zaga

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #13 on: December 19, 2015, 04:08:55 PM »
Lemon, ginger, and honey.  slice the lemon and ginger thin, pack into a jar, cover with honey.  Needs to be stored in the fridge though, but it's wonderful in tea!  I have this every morning and it goes with about half of the tea flavors we have.

http://simplegreensmoothies.com/natural-healing/lemon-ginger-and-honey-all-natural-coldflu-remedy

Jack

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #14 on: December 19, 2015, 05:02:42 PM »
I'm jealous of your climate that allows you to grow so many lemons. I have a couple of citrus bushes in pots, and I have a hard time just keeping them alive inside in the winter, let alone getting them to produce!

deborah

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #15 on: December 19, 2015, 05:49:39 PM »
Jack, it does get down to -10C here (it's too hot today to do the conversion to F) because we are one of the colder parts of Australia, but my north facing wall (sun side - we are in the southern hemisphere) is very sheltered and doesn't get frost, and I successfully grow my citrus there - lemon, grapefruit, bitter orange, and (not yet to fruit) lime and cumquat.

Thanks all for responding, and giving me ideas.

It is the weekend before Christmas, and everything is closing for the holiday season, as the schools all broke up for summer (6 weeks) a few days ago. Farmers markets aren't around at this time of year. People are disappearing, but are also out shopping in droves (fewer than there should be because it is so hot). People don't want lemons in those circumstances.

Jack

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #16 on: December 19, 2015, 06:01:08 PM »
Jack, it does get down to -10C here (it's too hot today to do the conversion to F) because we are one of the colder parts of Australia, but my north facing wall (sun side - we are in the southern hemisphere) is very sheltered and doesn't get frost, and I successfully grow my citrus there - lemon, grapefruit, bitter orange, and (not yet to fruit) lime and cumquat.

I'm in USDA zone 8A (or maybe 7B -- it's hard to tell, but I'm probably within the urban heat island effect so I round up), so the minimum temp here might be as low as -12C. Now you have me wondering if my citrus could make it outside, especially if I strung some incandescent Christmas lights on them or something...

Could you post a pic of your sheltered north facing wall (I'm wondering just how sheltered it is)?

deborah

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #17 on: December 19, 2015, 07:05:40 PM »
We're in 7A for cold. It's too hot to go outside today, especially with the wind (it's a total fire ban day, with extreme fire danger) so I won't take a picture for you yet. My house goes down a hill, so the back is two levels, while the front is one. My exterior wall is brick, and is about 4 yards from the timber fence separating me from the neighbour, whose brick wall is a similar distance from the fence. He has planted a hedge, which is about three yards tall, against the fence. Frost goes downhill, so that area gets none of that because of the slope. There is a concrete footpath against the house. This means that the sun heats up the wall, and the footpath, and the trees get much more heat than they would otherwise get.

Remember that the southern hemisphere is colder than the northern hemisphere (there are glaciers to the sea in Chile at the same latitude as London), so I am probably a lot closer to the equator than you, and Australia is one of the best places in the world for solar, so we get a lot of sun in winter.

horsepoor

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #18 on: December 19, 2015, 08:52:35 PM »
I was also going to suggest the salted preserved lemons as well.

You could also dehydrate them. I've cooked with dehydrated limes.  Not sure about dehydrated lemons, but I think they would rehydrate and a quick google says they can at leasat be used for lemonade and tea.  I also stupidly buy dehydrated lemon peel granules to sprinkle on chicken, but I bet they would be easy to make if you can dehydrate and grind up the peels.

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #19 on: December 19, 2015, 09:44:25 PM »
Lemon Curd is water bath cannable, as well, though it doesn't keep as long as jams. This lemon cake is superb:

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/East-62nd-Street-Lemon-Cake

Doubleh

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #20 on: December 20, 2015, 09:14:13 AM »
Some great tips there. My tip is don't write off lemon butter - flavoured butters store really well in the freezer and don't take up much space. Make as normal then either pack into ice cube trays then pop out into a zip lock when frozen, or roll into a log and slice bits off as needed.

But mainly I just love the thread title and assumed it was allegorical, like "when life hands you lemons" so laughed that it was about a literal glut of lemons!

Rezdent

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #21 on: December 20, 2015, 09:42:39 AM »
I'm jealous of your climate that allows you to grow so many lemons. I have a couple of citrus bushes in pots, and I have a hard time just keeping them alive inside in the winter, let alone getting them to produce!

Hi Jack,
Zone 8 here in Texas.
I just picked about 100 lbs of Meyer lemons from our three trees.
Not sure what varieties you have but some will die at 31F, so look up your specific variety.
Meyer lemons can take a wee bit more cold.  I've got them against south-facing walls, they are about 7 years old.  Whenever we have temps dropping below 30F, I cover them with a tarp and put a light in.  Sometimes the outer limbs will still freeze, but the tree itself survives.  I especially protect the trunk.
Ditto with our satsuma tangerine - got about 25 pounds from that tree this year :)
The Meiwa Kumquat can take a bit more cold, but I still cover it too.

About that south-facing wall...it is our house wall.  This means I must keep the back of the trees trimmed, which I do all year.  Lemons get quite big, and ours will likely grow taller than the house unless I keep trimming. I already use a step ladder to cover them.

Deborah

We give our overflow as presents to our family and friends.  I try to pretty up the presentation with ribbons and bows, and sometimes put in mixed nuts, bags of cookies, stuff like that.
I may have spoiled my coworkers - they started inquiring about how the trees are doing in September, hint hint.

Lanthiriel

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #22 on: December 20, 2015, 01:43:23 PM »
It's not going to use a ton of lemons, but this recipe is amazing. If I don't make it once per week, I get flak from the husband.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/18032/slow-cooker-lemon-garlic-chicken-ii/

deborah

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #23 on: December 20, 2015, 02:15:52 PM »
My lemon is a Meyer too. I chose it because they can take more cold. We are supposed to be marginal as far as citrus is concerned, and that's why I chose the Meyer. The previous owners had planted a lemon near the back fence and that died in the frosts, and was never particularly good. "The Canberra Gardener" says we have an average of 99 frosts a year.

They had a "two for the price of one" deal, so I got the Grapefruit as well, and the grapefruit needs heavy pruning every couple of years. A few years ago, after the lemon and grapefruit were doing so well along that fence, I ordered a bitter orange (you can never get them in the shops, and a normal orange would probably be sour because citruses are marginal). I had a mandarin, but that only produced small, sour fruit, and mandarins need more heat. So I pulled it out and got a lime (which probably is too marginal) and a cumquat. These are yet to be big enough to have any fruit, but are growing quite well.

I have added a picture of the area. You can see the brick side of the house. The grapefruit is in the front of the picture, and the lemon is next to where the steps go up. You can see the neighbour's hedge, and a bit of the roof of the neighbour's house (if you look carefully), so you can see that it is quite protected.
« Last Edit: December 20, 2015, 02:24:06 PM by deborah »

Liralen

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #24 on: December 20, 2015, 02:46:37 PM »
2nd the lemoncello suggestion. Homemade is easy and delicious!


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RosieTR

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Re: Lemons everywhere - recipes please
« Reply #25 on: December 20, 2015, 04:38:35 PM »
That looks like a great setup! Way to use microclimates to grow your desired foods!

We lived in Phoenix AZ for awhile and used to receive free lemons or offers to pick as much as we liked. We would freeze not only the juice  but also the grated peels, in ziplock baggies so we could just grab a pinch for any food (chicken, etc). I think at one time we had a gallon bag of frozen lemon peel (so ~4L!). We also made a bunch of lemon jam, which is really tasty in yogurt with granola, or on various desserts or breads. Took a lot of sugar and it's kind of hot to stand over a boiling stove of jam/hot water for canning. Most of the baking recipes like lemon meringue pie only used 1-2 lemons, so were fun but not a way to use up all those lemons.

Since we no longer live in a place where citrus would even potentially be OK outside all winter (last winter it was in the negative teens F, which is -25C or colder) we purchase bottled lemon juice which keeps in the fridge. I think they do something additional to preserve it, but you might search the web for hints on how to do that. It would take a lot of lemons to make a 1L bottle, which would not be too big a deal to store in the fridge for non-lemon season.

The preserved lemons sound interesting too, which I never tried.