Wednesday, May 6, 2009

If life gives you lemons...

Remember this centerpiece from the last blog? Yep. Them's some lemons. I had about 1/2 a case of lemons to use up in some way before they molded or something. I saved a few fresh to use in my morning smoothie (skim milk, lemon juice, banana, soy protein, a big honkin handful of spinach, and a little splenda --don't knock it 'til you try it), but still needed to do something with the rest. I was thinking "preserved lemons" a la Morroccan cuisine, but when I looked up a recipe I reallized I could then only use them for savory dishes, and I wanted to have them around to put in cakes and things too. So I did kind of a candied lemon slice in syrup.
It's been a while since I canned, first time this year, and you know what I always wonder? Why do I always have 200 wide mouth canning lids on hand, and almost every jar I have is standard? I did have one measly box of standard lids luckily in the back of a box.


OK. So you take 3 pounds at a time, and soak them overnight in just a little bit of water. Then measure them out into a wide, shallow pan, and add an equal amount of sugar (see? that's why I said MEASURE. I wondered that too the first time I saw the recipe. Boil the heck out of them. Maybe ten minute hard boil.
After that, pour into sterilized jars and process. You will probably have about a quart of lemon syrup left, which I processed along with the others. Yummy on the white chocolate coconut bread pudding I made yesterday (and ate all day --sigh.), also easy lemonade starter, pancake syrup, or green drink base (I'll tell you about that some other time --with water,spinach, mint, and ice in a blender ). I'm excited to have lemons on hand now. Sometimes I really want lemon peel, or lemon flavor and I've run out, and fresh lemons aren't something I keep around constantly like a pantry staple.

3 comments:

Deja said...

mmmmmm... delish-looking.

belann said...

What a good idea. Never thought of preserving lemons.

Kira said...

If you have more lemons Aunt Lynn makes a great homemade lemonade with a cup of lemon juice a cup of splenda and the rest of the way with water.
P.s. we will take bread pudding with lemon anytime.