Lemons and Limes: The Topic

[heidih]

8 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Since you mentioned Meyer Lemon, can it be used as a 1 for 1 substitute for regulat lemons?  My nearest grocery had a good buy on them last week and I almost bought a bag until I remembered that I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them.

It is a different less acidic amd more floral taste. EVerybody has their preferences - so try it out. For a while the only access I had to right off the tree was from a friend with a Meyer. Miss them. And in baking - really nice both skin and flesh.

Edited to add: and really nice in lemon ice cream!

Edited March 13, 2023 by heidih (log)

[Smithy]

3 hours ago, ElsieD said:

Since you mentioned Meyer Lemon, can it be used as a 1 for 1 substitute for regulat lemons?  My nearest grocery had a good buy on them last week and I almost bought a bag until I remembered that I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them.

 

The short answer is "no, they aren't a direct substitute."

 

@heidih said it well: Meyers are less acidic and more floral in flavor than "regular" lemons. My sister and I loved them; my mother hated them as insipid. You'd never confuse a Meyer lemon curd tart with a "regular" (i.e. Lisbon or Eureka) lemon curd tart, but they're both good. I like Meyers for their milder taste in something like a sauce over fish, although last night's dinner proved that it could still be overdone.

 

Incidentally, if you were to explore Middle Eastern cookery (well, maybe North African) you'd be well advised to use Meyer lemons because they're closer to the Daq lemons found in those areas. This information comes from Paula @Wolfert, who used to frequent these forums. It also matches my experience in Egypt.

[Katie Meadow]

I've had delicious meyer lemon marmalade. I make orange marmalade with sevilles and often add either bergamot or a few meyer lemons to the mix for a change of pace. Since meyer lemons are less acidic than regular lemons they may need a similar amount of sugar as sevilles in a marmalade. I  I love meyer lemon lemonade and I love a generous squeeze in my iced tea, also lovely on fish. But I think if you making something that calls for lemons in bulk, as in custards, pie or other lemon desserts the sugar level might need adjustment. 

[heidih]

PS on the Meyers - the ones I've used - thinner skin, much less pith, softer - so can be a bit more difficult to zest 

[Katie Meadow]

26 minutes ago, heidih said:

PS on the Meyers - the ones I've used - thinner skin, much less pith, softer - so can be a bit more difficult to zest 

More difficult to zest if you are using a zester or microplane, but easier if you are scraping away the pith from the inside for marmalade and then cutting in fine strips. Once in a while something works in my favor!

[Katie Meadow]

Speaking of marmalade, this, of course is the season, at least in northern CA when Sevilles are available during February and March.  Used to be several dedicated marmalade freaks here. Where are you all? We made five batches this year, which resulted in about 33 half pint jars. We had a deficit last year and had to struggle through December and January without marmalade. Sad! We seem to need at least 2 jars per month for the two of us.

 

David Lebovitz has an interesting post about the difference between meyer lemons and bergamots and the confusion between the two, at least for Americans in Paris. Bergamots have at best a month or two season here in Bay Area stores, and it isn't reliable. They used to be available during the time sevilles were available and we used to add two or three bergamots to each batch of 6 or 7 jars. But these last two years bergamot season has been sketchy. Sometimes they are in the store, other times not. So now we are trying adding meyer lemons instead. One batch used our usual ratio of bergamots to sevilles. But today we made a batch that is 50/50. Seriously you can taste the lemon. Delicious. Some of the lemons came from the market, some from our neighbor's tree. Our neighbor's lemons are extremely floral and delicate. The bergamots we get ate also very floral, but taste very different from meyer lemons, . Meyers still taste like lemons, but bergamots are in a category of their own, at least to my tastebuds.

 

[ElsieD]

On 3/12/2023 at 8:24 PM, Smithy said:

The zest freezes beautifully in strips. Do be sure to leave the pith behind, but I think you already knew that. (I actually don't find lemon pith to be as bitter as orange pith, but I think I'm an outlier.) I just put the strips of zest, cut using a vegetable peeler, into a freezer bag, squeeze out the air, and freeze.

 

I bought a bag of lemons and I'm wondering about freezing the zest in strips, without the pith.  How do you turn these strips into zest?  A food processor would be overkill, if it even worked, and the strips would be so thin can't see using a grater.  I must be missing something?  As I'm sitting here thinking about this, I'm wondering about peeling the lemons, leaving the pith on, freezing the peels and, when I want some zest, the peel would be easier to zest?

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

8 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

I bought a bag of lemons and I'm wondering about freezing the zest in strips, without the pith.  How do you turn these strips into zest?  A food processor would be overkill, if it even worked, and the strips would be so thin can't see using a grater.  I must be missing something?  As I'm sitting here thinking about this, I'm wondering about peeling the lemons, leaving the pith on, freezing the peels and, when I want some zest, the peel would be easier to zest?

Here is something I do.

I'll regularly zest (micro-planed) oranges, lemons and limes.

Example: orange for breakfast: scrub the orange, dry, then grate the zest onto a small square of cling film then close up like a Hershey's Kiss.

Freeze.

Enjoy the orange with your breakfast.

Same for lemons and limes.

Works for me.

 

[blue_dolphin]

23 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

I bought a bag of lemons and I'm wondering about freezing the zest in strips, without the pith.  How do you turn these strips into zest?  A food processor would be overkill, if it even worked, and the strips would be so thin can't see using a grater.  I must be missing something?  As I'm sitting here thinking about this, I'm wondering about peeling the lemons, leaving the pith on, freezing the peels and, when I want some zest, the peel would be easier to zest?

 

I'm also curious about the best way to freeze zest so I'm no help there but I've tried to zest citrus (using a microplane or a peeler) that I've halved and juiced and it was a pain in the butt with both tools. 

 

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

8 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

I'm also curious about the best way to freeze zest so I'm no help there but I've tried to zest citrus (using a microplane or a peeler) that I've halved and juiced and it was a pain in the butt with both tools. 

 

 

Reverse your procedure: zest first then halve and juice.

 

[blue_dolphin]

6 minutes ago, Senior Sea Kayaker said:

 

Reverse your procedure: zest first then halve and juice.

 

Of course that is the sensible way and I aspire to be as sensible! This only happened once when I accidentally juiced the last lemon for one recipe, thinking there were plenty more about, then later realized that I wanted a piece of zest to garnish a cocktail. Learned my lesson there! 

[ElsieD]

28 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

I'm also curious about the best way to freeze zest so I'm no help there but I've tried to zest citrus (using a microplane or a peeler) that I've halved and juiced and it was a pain in the butt with both tools. 

 

 

I tried that once too.

[Smithy]

Oh, I've zested more than my share of citrus after the fact of squeezing. Each time, I swear I'll remember to reverse the process the next time! I'm a slow learner, though: I probably still forget to zest first about 20% of the time. *blush*

 

@ElsieD, I misspoke. I was thinking of cutting the zest -- that is, the peel without the pith -- using a vegetable peeler, then freezing those strips for use in infusions, salad dressings, or (if cut into smaller chunks) in hot cereals or yogurt. That's what my best friend does. You can also dry that peel and then break off chunks. If you know you want finely-grated zest, however, my method is useless. A Microplane or equivalent is your friend. Sorry for the sloppy writing.

[lemniscate]

I microplane first then juice.

I have frozen the zest in ice cube trays, then bagged and broke off needed pieces when desired.

I have dried the zest and then powdered it, it's stored in a jar in the fridge.

Either way gets you zest for recipes; savory and sweet.

 

For drinks, I don't think there's a substitute for a fresh zest.  Freezing zest strips makes them soft and floppy.

Same for limes, there's no substitute for fresh lime section in G&T or Vodka/soda.   I've tried frozen whole limes to extend them but they are so disappointing to try to use in cocktails.

 

The dried orange slices are a trend for whiskey drinks around here.  I suppose dried lemon slices would work for certain bar uses.   I mainly use them for steeping in tea/water.

Edited March 22, 2023 by lemniscate
extend, not expend. (log)

[btbyrd]

When life gives you zest, make oleo saccharum.

[ElsieD]

Yesterday I took my bag of 10 lemons, zested, and juiced them.  The zest was frozen in 1 tablespoon blobs, equal to the zest of 1 lemon, on plastic wrap.  As each lemon provides appx. 3 tablespoons of juice I froze the juice in ice cube trays, 1 1/2 tablespoons per cube.  I just need to pop the cubes and bag them.  I'll do the same with a bag of limes I bought yesterday.  They were $7.99 for a bag of 22 limes which seemed too good to pass up.  I won't zest  much of it as I seldom use it, but the juice will get the lemon treatment although frozen in smaller amounts.

 

Edited March 25, 2023 by ElsieD (log)

[ElsieD]

Question:  in your experience, how much juice do you get from a  lime.  A lot of recipes call for the juice of 1 lime.  I'm currently trying squeezing limes and getting 1 measly tablespoon per lime.  If I look on-line. The consensus seems to be that one should get 2 tablespoons of juice per lime.  

[heidih]

3 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Question:  in your experience, how much juice do you get from a  lime.  A lot of recipes call for the juice of 1 lime.  I'm currently trying squeezing limes and getting 1 measly tablespoon per lime.  If I look on-line. The consensus seems to be that one should get 2 tablespoons of juice per lime.  

Size and type does matter. Also hiw are you squeezing/juicing? I stick a fork in a half antwist and squeeze really crushing the "juice sacs". Plus not every lime is at same level of ripe and growing conditions make a difference. They arenot widgets

[C. sapidus]

27 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Question:  in your experience, how much juice do you get from a  lime.  A lot of recipes call for the juice of 1 lime.  I'm currently trying squeezing limes and getting 1 measly tablespoon per lime.  If I look on-line. The consensus seems to be that one should get 2 tablespoons of juice per lime.  

 

I usually get 1 tablespoon squeezed by hand, or 2 tablespoons with a citrus squeezer thingie (hinged, one convex surface and one with holes in it for the juice). Funny you should ask this, I was just calculating how many limes I needed to pick up from the store.

 

Plus what heidih said. 🙂

[ElsieD]

1 hour ago, heidih said:

Size and type does matter. Also hiw are you squeezing/juicing? I stick a fork in a half antwist and squeeze really crushing the "juice sacs". Plus not every lime is at same level of ripe and growing conditions make a difference. They arenot widgets

 

You get a gold star!  I hadn't finished with them yet when I read your post.  I went back into the kitchen, used your fork method and voilà!  I'm getting 2 tablespoons of juice per lime.  I'll use this method from now on.  Do you do lemons this way too?

 

I had been using an Oxo juicer, one of those that sits in a container.  A bigger juicer on one side, flip it over and there is a smaller one on the other side.  Sorry, i can't describe it any better.  I've had it for years.

[heidih]

20 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

You get a gold star!  I hadn't finished with them yet when I read your post.  I went back into the kitchen, used your fork method and voilà!  I'm getting 2 tablespoons of juice per lime.  I'll use this method from now on.  Do you do lemons this way too?

 

I learned the trick from a Vietnamese friend - glad it worked for you. I do it with lemons too unless they are super juicy and my hand suffices. That is usually only with Meyers from a friend's tree.

[liuzhou]

With lemons, I usually nuke them in the microwave for a few seconds on low. This breaks down the internal cell walls and releases a lot more juice.

[Anna N]

7 hours ago, liuzhou said:

With lemons, I usually nuke them in the microwave for a few seconds on low. This breaks down the internal cell walls and releases a lot more juice.

That was generally my technique if I was juicing one or two. Anything more and the electric juicer comes out. 

[Smithy]

7 hours ago, liuzhou said:

With lemons, I usually nuke them in the microwave for a few seconds on low. This breaks down the internal cell walls and releases a lot more juice.

 

I've never tried that. Does it change the flavor, from what you have noticed? What does it do to the zest?

[liuzhou]

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

I've never tried that. Does it change the flavor, from what you have noticed? What does it do to the zest?

 

No  change in flavour. Not does it do anything to the zest.  You aren't really cooking them; just heating it a little. I do it on the the defrost setting on my microwave for no more than 30 seconds or so then let them cool down again.