Lemons - an essential part of every Greek pantry!
Lemons are an essential part of every Greek pantry, and a true favourite of mine! A citrusy bright scent from ripe Greek lemons always manages to lift my spirits and their juice and aromatic zest add a truly special tang to numerous Greek delights; both sweet and savoury.
In my kitchen, lemons and lemon juice, mixed together with old fashioned baking soda, is also an essential cleaning ingredient!
As a general rule 1 medium-sized lemon equals 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of zest.
Buying and Storing Lemons
I normally buy my lemons all year round from my local farmer’s market where I always look for smooth, thin-skinned, fully-ripened yellow lemons that are heavy for their size as they are much juicier. Lemons that are light for their size and have thick peel have less flesh and, therefore, less juice!
Avoid buying lemons that have green tinges as they will be more acidic due to the fact that they have not fully ripened.
If you want to use the lemon zest in your cooking, make sure to buy organic lemons since most conventionally-grown lemons will have pesticide residues on their skin.
Storing Lemons
Store lemons for immediate use at room temperature and away from exposure to sunlight. At room temperature lemons will stay fresh for about one week.
Store lemons in the refrigerator if not using them within a week from purchase. Lemons will keep in the refrigerator for about three to four weeks.
Lemon juice can be frozen and, therefore, I normally place any extra freshly-squeezed lemon juice I have in ice cube trays and when frozen, I store them in zip lock plastic bags. This way I always have some lemon juice handy for my cooking needs. .
Extra lemon zest can be either frozen in tightly-sealed plastic bags or dried in an airtight glass container and placed in a cool, dry room.
Getting the most juice out of your lemons
Lemons at room temperature will always yield more juice.
If you have stored your lemons in the refrigerator, place them in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes before extracting their juice.
Rolling the lemons under the palm of your hand on your kitchen counter, or any flat surface, will help break up the pulp and release more juice.
Use a special grater (zester) to remove the zest from the lemon as this will make it so much easier! When removing the zest, make sure to remove only the bright yellow zest and avoid the white pith, which is really bitter.
Washing Lemons
Always make sure to wash your lemons carefully before use as, if you forget, when you cut into the lemon, dirt or bacteria residing on the surface of the fruit will be transferred to its interior!
Various tips
Use lemon juice to bring out the flavour of other foods.
A few drops of lemon juice are great for perking up dried herbs such as oregano and thyme.
Dip sliced bananas, apples, pears, avocados and artichokes in lemon juice to prevent discoloring.
Squeeze some lemon juice on vegetables while steaming. This will help keep their colours bright and it will also prevent white vegetables like potatoes and cauliflower from turning brown.
Add some lemon juice to your rice while cooking. Not only will it make your rice whiter but your end result will be fluffier as the lemon juice will also help keep your rice from sticking.
Tenderise meat by marinating it in lemon juice or a mixture of yoghurt and lemon juice.
Lemony cleaning tips
Make a paste of lemon juice and baking soda (or fine salt) and use it to clean tarnished brass, copper or steel. Coat the affected area with paste and leave for 3–5 minutes and then wash or rinse with warm water and polish dry. I do this with my kitchen sink and it really makes a difference!
Remove refrigerator odors effortlessly. Having removed the item that caused the bad odour in your refrigerator, just soak a kitchen sponge in lemon juice and leave it in the fridge for several hours or overnight. Remove the sponge and enjoy opening your fridge door!
Clean your kitchen cutting boards with undiluted lemon juice or a mixture of lemon juice and baking soda! Rinse and dry carefully, or place in dishwasher (to wash and dry). This will sanitise the cutting board and get rid of the various unwanted odours that have lingered on your cutting board from chopping, for example, onions or garlic!
