lemon juice
A few days ago a friend of mine returned from a trip to south Florida. He was staying with another (mutual) friend who has a plethora of citrus trees on his property – everything from oranges to grapefruit to lemons. Being the kind of guy he is (and also in hopes that I’d make lemon curd for the holidays), my local friend brought me two large boxes of lemons.
Needless to say, my evenings have been spent zesting and juicing lemons like crazy. But what do you do with nearly 30 lbs of lemon? Well, make lemon tart, make preserved lemons, make the aforementioned lemon curd, make limoncello, and just plain freeze zest and juice.
I zest the lemons first and the zest goes into a small glass jar for freezing. Then the naked lemons get juiced and the juice gets strained through a fine sieve:
The best thing about these lemons is that they have so much more juice than the ones you buy in the grocery store. A quick zap (10 secs or less) in the microwave helps make sure you get the most out of them.
I like to use my silicone muffin pan for freezing juice and liquids. Each muffin cup holds a little over 1/2 of a cup of liquid. I also have a silicone mini-muffin pan that holds about 2 tbsp per cup, for freezing smaller amounts. I actually use the silicone more for freezing juices and other things (pesto, fruit purees, etc.) than I do for baking!
It takes about an hour or so for the juice to freeze solid. Then you just pop the little frozen rounds of lemon juice right out of the pan and do it all over again.
About 6 rounds will fit into a 1 qt freezer bag, which is labelled and put back in the freezer.
Now, in the winter when I really want the bright fresh zing of lemons, I’ll have juice and zest to add to my baking and cooking.
What a fantastic idea, I’ve tried using my normal muffin pan to freeze things like this… but it’s always a pain to get them out! I may need to pick up a silicon one just for this reason
It is a great idea to freeze the lemon juice and other liquids in the muffin tins. I use ice cube trays also, if I want either a small amount or flavored ice cubes. Nothing like lemon or orange cubes to put in a punch or any drink.
You must have put in a lot of hard work to accomplish all that. Take a break. Have a brownie or some ice cream. Relax. You deserve it.
of coure to finish this work will take a lot of hours work, how to choose the lemon and how to control the time in the microwave can save a lot lemon juice
What a great idea for freezing lemon juice. I’ve frozen harissa in ice-cube trays before, which then gives you really useful amounts, but haven’t thought about doing lemon juice in muffin tins before. Good one.
What a fantastic idea! I shall be using this tip and buying myself a silicon muffin pan! I have tried using ice trays to freeze stocks, but it was such a pain and each ice block is such a small amount! I never thought to use a muffin tray!
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