If you want to take it to the extreme- you can save the zest from lemons or other citrus in the freezer if you don’t have a use. Later, you can use the zest with citric and malic acid (available...
If you want to take it to the extreme- you can save the zest from lemons or other citrus in the freezer if you don’t have a use. Later, you can use the zest with citric and malic acid (available at home brew stores or online) to make more juice. It’s like the cartons of fake lemon juice at the grocery store but way better.
You can also just use sugar instead of acid. That’s my preferred way of making lemonade: peel a dozen or two lemons, place the peels in a bowl, cover the peels with enough sugar to kill a horse,...
You can also just use sugar instead of acid. That’s my preferred way of making lemonade: peel a dozen or two lemons, place the peels in a bowl, cover the peels with enough sugar to kill a horse, wait 24 hours for the sugar to pull the oil out of the peels, dump everything into a jug, juice the lemons into the jug, add as much water as necessary to fill the jug. The key is to get your lemon count to jug size ratio correct so you don’t have watered down lemonade.
It’s uh, probably healthier to just use acid though. I’ve also heard you get more concentrated flavor that way.
Yes, definitely! The technique has the fancy name Oleo Saccharum. I love to use it on various fruit scraps— if you skin peaches for preserving, toss the skins in some sugar for a hour or two for...
Yes, definitely! The technique has the fancy name Oleo Saccharum. I love to use it on various fruit scraps— if you skin peaches for preserving, toss the skins in some sugar for a hour or two for an amazing syrup. Likewise for pineapple rind!
I find the syrups don’t last super long in the fridge before going moldy, especially the pineapple. Maybe a week, tops. I think pineapple rind has a lot of natural yeast on it that leads to a shorter shelf life.
Minor note of caution... Spouse is going down the baking rabbit hole, and made Russian spice cookies yesterday. He was complaining the glaze was too thin - turned out he used the juice from half a...
Minor note of caution...
Spouse is going down the baking rabbit hole, and made Russian spice cookies yesterday. He was complaining the glaze was too thin - turned out he used the juice from half a lemon without measuring, following roughly the recommended juicing technique here. Lemons vary in size, and quantity of juice varies by technique, so he effectively doubled what the recipe called for. [Glaze was fine with more sugar added until the right consistency was reached. And he doubled the spices - they taste fabulous.]
If a recipe doesn't specify a quantity of lemon juice, be aware that "juice of one lemon" or "juice of half a lemon" is typically equivalent to four tablespoons (2 oz./60 ml) or two tablespoons (1 oz./30 ml) respectively.
Can confirm. The reason I poked around on this subject is because I have a lemon tree with a lot of ripe fruit. If I go out to pick lemons when the weather is cold, I get a lot less juice out of...
Can confirm. The reason I poked around on this subject is because I have a lemon tree with a lot of ripe fruit. If I go out to pick lemons when the weather is cold, I get a lot less juice out of them than if I let them warm up to kitchen temperature. And it absolutely is true that you get more juice if you put the lemons in a microwave; 15 seconds is enough.
We just made holiday gifts of lemon curd, cooked in the sous vide. So our friends are getting the benefit of some of this fruit... though that was only 8 lemons.
Have you heard the good news about lacto fermented lemons? When life gives you a lemon tree's worth, and you've already made curd, frozen lemon juice and zest, dried lemon slices... put up a...
Have you heard the good news about lacto fermented lemons? When life gives you a lemon tree's worth, and you've already made curd, frozen lemon juice and zest, dried lemon slices... put up a couple of jars of fermented lemons. There are a host of great Mediterranean recipes (tagines, etc.) that use them.
If you want to take it to the extreme- you can save the zest from lemons or other citrus in the freezer if you don’t have a use. Later, you can use the zest with citric and malic acid (available at home brew stores or online) to make more juice. It’s like the cartons of fake lemon juice at the grocery store but way better.
This link has the recipe:
https://www.superjuice.io/
You can also just use sugar instead of acid. That’s my preferred way of making lemonade: peel a dozen or two lemons, place the peels in a bowl, cover the peels with enough sugar to kill a horse, wait 24 hours for the sugar to pull the oil out of the peels, dump everything into a jug, juice the lemons into the jug, add as much water as necessary to fill the jug. The key is to get your lemon count to jug size ratio correct so you don’t have watered down lemonade.
It’s uh, probably healthier to just use acid though. I’ve also heard you get more concentrated flavor that way.
Yes, definitely! The technique has the fancy name Oleo Saccharum. I love to use it on various fruit scraps— if you skin peaches for preserving, toss the skins in some sugar for a hour or two for an amazing syrup. Likewise for pineapple rind!
I find the syrups don’t last super long in the fridge before going moldy, especially the pineapple. Maybe a week, tops. I think pineapple rind has a lot of natural yeast on it that leads to a shorter shelf life.
This is an awesome resource! I had no idea you could do that. Thanks for the tip
Minor note of caution...
Spouse is going down the baking rabbit hole, and made Russian spice cookies yesterday. He was complaining the glaze was too thin - turned out he used the juice from half a lemon without measuring, following roughly the recommended juicing technique here. Lemons vary in size, and quantity of juice varies by technique, so he effectively doubled what the recipe called for. [Glaze was fine with more sugar added until the right consistency was reached. And he doubled the spices - they taste fabulous.]
If a recipe doesn't specify a quantity of lemon juice, be aware that "juice of one lemon" or "juice of half a lemon" is typically equivalent to four tablespoons (2 oz./60 ml) or two tablespoons (1 oz./30 ml) respectively.
Can confirm. The reason I poked around on this subject is because I have a lemon tree with a lot of ripe fruit. If I go out to pick lemons when the weather is cold, I get a lot less juice out of them than if I let them warm up to kitchen temperature. And it absolutely is true that you get more juice if you put the lemons in a microwave; 15 seconds is enough.
We just made holiday gifts of lemon curd, cooked in the sous vide. So our friends are getting the benefit of some of this fruit... though that was only 8 lemons.
Have you heard the good news about lacto fermented lemons? When life gives you a lemon tree's worth, and you've already made curd, frozen lemon juice and zest, dried lemon slices... put up a couple of jars of fermented lemons. There are a host of great Mediterranean recipes (tagines, etc.) that use them.
Oh for sure. I've made them a few times. But I use frozen lemon juice far more often than preserved lemons.
If anyone isn't sure what the article means by cutting cheeks for max juice, picture