What can I do with home grown lemons?!
Answers: Can you squeeze them and freeze the juice? Can you grate the rind and freeze for use in baking?
Perfect question for this time of the year, you can make and give homemade gifts from the lemons,
Italian Lemoncello ( an after dinner Italian lemon liqueur made of fresh lemons and sugar syrup/vodka combination and let to sit for a week before consuming, from the freezer)
Contact me at my 360 profile page if you'd like a killer recipe.......
Christopher
You can freeze the juice. I am not sure how long the rind would last before it gets freezer burn and dries out.
you could make lemon curd - like a preserve, similar to marmalade.
I would make several things but you might want to give preserved lemons a try. They are a Moroccan / North African specialty.
Here is a recipe
http://www.seasonalchef.com/recipe29.htm
Here is an interesting recipe for drying lemons that sounds good.
http://www.dryit.com/driedlemonslices.ht...
You can freeze the lemons whole. You can squeeze the juice and fill ice cube trays with it. Once they are frozen remove from the trays and save in a zip top freezer bag. I would think you could freeze the zest as well. I love fresh lemons for iced tea.
if you freeze the juice use an ice cube tray and then put them in a zippy bag once frozen. it would also work to freeze the rinds. just microwave them a bit to defrost and they'll be ready for use.
Yes, definitely squeeze the juice into ice cube trays and then transfer the cubes to plastic bags where the stay in the freezed until you needs a bit of juice for something. Then you just pull them out a cube at a time.
You can dry the zest. You can candy the peel. You can make marmelade, liquore, a simple lemon syrup, lemon curd, preserved lemons to use in Moroccan cooking. The options are enourmous.
Make homemade lemonade. I don't think freezing them would do them any justice. With lemons, fresh is best, and I'm sure that with them being home grown they are totally awesome! It would probably take alot of lemons for homemade lemonade, so you could probably use them up quickly.
Grating the rind and freezing it would not be good at all. Again, freshly grated lemon rind is best.
Yes, you can do both, with rind and juice.
I think I'd make a nice lemon icebox pie, lemon bars, and good ol' lemonade!
i would take half the lemons, candy the peel and make lemonade (with some vodka) for starters, then with the other half I would make lemon curd (like what you use for lemon pie) and bottle them. Or preserved lemons work wonders as well.
****AUTHENTIC ITALIAN LEMON ICE
2 c. water
1 c. lemon juice (use juice of 2 lemons plus enough reconstituted juice to yield 1 c.)
Zest of 2 lemons,
cut very fine
2/3 c. sugar
Heat water and sugar to boiling.
Simmer for 5 additional minutes. Remove from heat; stir in lemon juice and zest. Cool to room temperature. Divide mixture evenly among three tubs. Freezer until firm. Shave; scoop into small cups and serve with a spoon or straw. May wish to garnish with a small thin slice of lemon