Saturday 4 June 2022

lemon juice in a jiffy

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I love the tangy sourness of lemon juice - a few drops perk up almost any dish. Yet, laziness often gets the better of me, since it also means taking out a lemon, washing/slicing/squeezing/deseeding. and then storing the rest of it back...yadda yadda yadda.

These are my 2 quick-fix solutions - tried and tested for decades now. Open fridge and voila, no cutting, no seeds, pure fresh juice!

1. Lemon Juice -
I buy veggies for the entire week, lemons included. Here I've gathered the materials I'll need - knife, lemon squeeze, and an air tight container. And lemons, of course! 

Cut each lemon in half, squeeze the juice in a wide-mouth utensil. Sorry, no pics with my messy hands! 

Pour into the air-tight jar. Sieve if there are any seeds. Refrigerate. It lasts easily for up to 2 weeks and still tastes fresh!

2. Lemon wedges/slices - 
When I don't have time to squeeze and store the juice, but need lemon juice immediately ....

Slice the lemon off-center so that the seeded part remains. Notice how I got 4 seedless slices, and I can choose the size of each slice depending on the requirement. Store in air-tight container.
However, seedless is not the only reason I do this. A half-squeezed lemon tends to spoil easily - it might have something to do with the skin being crushed. 
Hence, always store a cut slice that hasn't been squeezed, and it lasts for a long time.
The above 4 slices are for this pictorial. In practice, I simply slice off what I need and store the lemon. It works fine.

What tips do you have to store lemons?

10 comments:

  1. Interesting tip about half squeezed lemons spoiling, thanks. Since our lemon tree is yet to produce any fruit and lemons in the supermarket are very expensive, I've been buying bottles of lemon juice, which keep very well. The drawback is that I have no lemon zest when a recipe calls for it.

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    1. I remember Pa buying lemon juice in a container shaped and coloured like a real lemon - don't remember the country, Jane! Loved to sip on the drops , LOL. Hope your tree gives you lemons. 🍋

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  2. That's the way I slice apples. I don't know why I've never tried it with lemons. Thanks for the tip!

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    1. I copied the garnish slicing from restaurants and take-outs, Diane, till I observed that it had more shelf-life! 🍋

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  3. Interesting post about lemons, I rarely buy lemons these days as they can be expensive and imported from Europe.

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  4. Really good ideas about lemons/storage/juicing! I'll have to try this. I do USE lemons, but I use more limes even more. This should work well with limes, too.
    StephanieW

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    1. We don't get limes here, only lemons. Hence no sweetness, only sour, LOL. Would love to see it work on the limes, Steph 🍋

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  5. I roll my lemons on the counter top or table top as I press them slightly with the palm of my hand to “juice them” before I cut them. They are juicier when I cut them.

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    1. Oh, I do that too, Anonymous, especially if a lemon is fresh out of the fridge! It works wonderfully. 🍋

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