What to Do with a Lot of Lemons – (When They Take Over Your Kitchen) Part 2

When I set out to write my little blog about lemons, I did not foresee it turning into a mini-series. But hey, they are a wonderful, flavorful, versatile, useful and good for you, fruit. My article just kept getting longer and longer so I broke it into two parts. In part one, I mentioned the three prominent methods of preserving lemons: canning, dehydrating and freezing. I dove into canning and touched on vacuum sealing this sunny citrus. Click here to check out part one of What to Do with a Lot of Lemons – (When They Have Taken Over Your Kitchen) if it is of interest to you. This time around we get to look into the dehydrating and freezing methods of preserving lemons. What are we waiting for? Let’s get to it…

Dehydrating Method –

Dehydrated lemons are good for adding to tea, potpourri to freshen up a room, garnish to dress up a meal presentation or drink. You can even candy them.

Once regular lemon slices are dehydrated you can run them through your food processor and turn them into a fine powder which can be added to food, drink, water, and baking for lemon flavoring. You can even zest your lemons and then dehydrate just the zest for future use.

For regular dehydrating, if you have a dehydrator then follow the instructions of your appliance. If you do not have one, have no fear. You can use your oven.

For Lemon Slices –

• Prepare Lemons – Wash and dry your lemons.
• Preheat Oven – Preheat oven to 170° degrees F or 76°C.
• Cut Lemons – Cut lemons into thin 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch slices. Deseed slices and gently pat dry with paper towel.
• Prepare a Baking Sheet – Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and then arrange lemon slices on paper in a single layer and without overlapping one another.
• Bake– Bake in oven for 2-3 hours or until the lemon slices are fully dry and easily breakable. Start by baking 1 to 1 1/2 hours, pull out and flip slices over to expedite even and complete dehydrating. Stick back in the oven for another 1 to 1 1/2 hours. It may take longer if doing multiple sheets of lemon slices at a time.
• Storing – Once lemon slices are fully cooled you can store them in an airtight container or plastic bag. Keep them in a cool, dark and dry place to maintain flavor, quality and prevent molding. You can vacuum seal them to further extend their life.

For Lemon Zest –

• Prepare Lemons – Do this by thoroughly cleaning and patting them dry with a clean towel.
• Grate Your Zest – (self explanatory)
• Prepare for Oven – Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread zest out on parchment as thinly and evenly as you can.
• Bake – Put baking sheet in oven and turn it on to 170°F or 76°C and bake for 25 to 60 minutes. You will also want to toss or turn your lemon zest after it has been in for a while. Depending on how long it takes your oven to warm up, 15 minutes might be a good benchmark. That may also be a good time to check it’s progress if you have only a small amount that you are dehydrating. Keep checking it every 15 minutes so you do not “cook or brown” the zest.
• Storage – When zest is completely cooled you can store it in an airtight container or plastic bag. Keep in a cool, dark and dry place to maintain flavor and quality. You can vacuum seal it as well to further extend shelf life and usability.

For Powdered Lemon –

Once you have dehydrated your lemons, process them into a powder with your food processor. Don’t fill it up. Try doing a few at a time. Each appliance is a little different and you may have to play around with the amount to get the best ratio to work with. Too much at one time may leave you with chunks that don’t seem to process and too little can have the same effect. After it is turned to powder, you will store in an airtight container or plastic bag (this also can be vacuum sealed) and store in a cool, dark and dry place.

“Lemon brings a whisper of summer to every dish.” – Nigella Lawson

Freezing Method –

This is my method of choice even though the shelf life on freezing is not as long as other methods. Canning is 6 months to one year and dehydration is 6 months to five years if done properly and stored correctly. The frozen method for lemon wedges, juice or zest is merely 3 – 6 months. I do find it adequate for my needs and the simplest and quickest method. That is only my opinion so please try different techniques and judge for yourself.

Recently when I was given some tree ripened lemons by a good friend, I made use of the opportunity to the fullest by both zesting and juicing the lemons. My wonderful husband got in on the act as well! Thank you honey for the hand and the help! We zested all the lemons first and then cut them in half and juiced them. It was our first time doing one right after the other on the same lemons and admittedly it is a little messier while juicing the lemons after zesting them, so you may want to wear gloves if doing both.

For Wedges & Slices –

• Clean – Wash your lemons and pat or air dry them.
• Cut – Cut lemons into wedges or slices. Future usage will determine how large of wedges you want to cut. It is possible to freeze whole lemons but from what I understand they get really mushy when they unthaw. If your lemons are very juicy, it may be a good idea to pat them lightly with a paper towel to absorb excess moisture (to make them easier to extricate from your parchment paper once frozen).
• Set Up – Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet and then place wedges or slices on parchment making sure they do not touch each other. Prepare your flat space in the freezer for your sheet.
• Freeze – Place baking sheet carefully in the freezer so the wedges/slices don’t slide off or into each other. Leave for a couple hours
• Store – Pull out of freezer and off the parchment paper, placing in freezer bags or jars. Place bags/jars back in freezer for storage and take out when needed. If you have a vacuum sealer, you can do this before putting them back in the freezer.

For Zest –

• Prepare Lemons – You will want to clean your lemons and pat dry with a clean towel.
• Gather Supplies – Chose your grater of choice (I like my tiny cheese grater with small holes for hard cheeses over the actual zest grater – the zest pieces are a little larger, but I find that is not an issue in my cooking or baking). I find it easier to work with. Fetch your ice cube trays out.
• Measure – Many people freeze their zest in 1/2 tsp amounts, but I do mine in 1 tsp amounts. If you have recipes that you use regularly that call for lemon zest, take a look at them to help you decide the measurement you want to freeze your zest in. Measure your zest by packing it tightly in your measuring spoon and get it roughly level on top.
• Fill – One tsp (or whatever your chosen measurement is) at a time, put into the bottom of your ice trays. Then using the handle of a utensil or the end of a really small measuring spoon (like 1/8 or 1/16) if you have it, compress the zest down. Then to help the zest freeze and stay in a block well, I will go around and put approximately 1/8 -1/4 tsp. of either water or lemon juice into each cube.
• Freeze – Pop the tray in the freezer for an hour or more.
• Store – Once frozen pull each zest cube out of the tray and place in a labeled freezer bag or airtight container. Place back in the freezer for storage.

For Juice –

• Clean – Wash lemons and pat try.
• Cut – Cut lemons in half and pull out the obvious seeds.
• Juice lemons.
• Sieve – Pour juice through a sieve to catch all the seeds and larger pieces of pulp.
• Measure & Fill – Decide what size measurement you want to freeze your juice in. (If you just need small amounts, here and there, try 1/2 teaspoon to possibly as large as 1 Tablespoon. If you have a recipe that you love that calls for larger amounts, 1/4 cup might be more appropriate. If you are freezing it for large batches of lemonade in the summer, you might desire an even larger increment like a full cup. If you are wanting small measurements, use your ice trays. I usually freeze mine in my ice trays which can hold up to 2 Tablespoons. You can fit up to 1/3 cup of liquid in a standard size muffin pan cup. You’ll have lemon discs. Anything beyond that you will probably need to freeze in jars, cups or plasticware. Fill your chosen size containers with juice.
• Freeze – Put your juice filled containers in the freezer for a few hours. The length of time for freezing obviously will vary depending on the amount of liquid you are freezing. If you are freezing large amounts, freeze them in the containers you will store them in…i.e. your jars, bags or plastic containers.
• Store – Once frozen, pull containers out of freezer and place your juice cubes or disks in a labeled bag or airtight container.

“Lemons remind us that even the sourest moments can be ingredients in a recipe for strength.” – Audrey Hepburn

I hope this helps you out. Let me know how it goes and what you chose to do with your lemons.

Until Next visit,

Zee