thoughtful consumption

Fresh lemons makes a big difference. I get a bunch every couple of weeks at the grocery store. I don’t use fresh limes as often so I keep a bottle of good key lime juice in the fridge for emergencies and only buy fresh limes when I have a specific use for them

Choose smooth-skinned lemons that are heavy for their size.

Juicing lemons

Lemons juice best at room temperature. If they’re cold, pop them in the microwave for 10 seconds. Either way, roll your lemons around on the countertop, pressing with the heel of your hand to soften the lemon and get more juice.

1 medium lemon equals approximately 2 tablespoons of lemon juice.

There are lots of ways to juice lemons, but the idea is to get the most juice and the fewest seeds. I tend to just squeeze half a lemon in one hand over the fingers in my other hand. My fingers catch (most of) the seeds. (Be careful if you have any cuts on your hands!) You can also use a juicer or a reamer. My stepson suggested a method of cutting wedges and then slicing through the pulp horizontally. Then you squeeze the wedge against the knife. The juice then runs down the knife. I think this is excellent for restaurants when you’re given a wedge and a table knife. However, when I’ve tried it juicing lemons this way with my prep knife I’ve sliced my hand pretty good a couple of times. This is especially unfun when they’re covered in lemon juice.

Storing lemons

Lemons last longest stored in the refrigerator. Pick them up once a day and flip them if you can. This will keep them from getting moldy on one side.

If you only use a bit of a lemon, you can wrap the rest in plastic wrap or put it in a small tupperware in the fridge. It will last 4 or 5 days.

Here’s a neat tip from whatscookingamerica.com. If you only need a few drops of juice, pierce a lemon with a toothpick and squeeze out some juice. Then stick the toothpick back in to seal the lemon and put it back in the fridge. Pretty cool!

Using lemons

• Squeeze up to half a lemon into a glass of water, soda water, or tea.
• Steam any vegetable. Top with a pat of butter, pepper, and lemon juice
• Make a light salad dressing with lemon juice, olive oil, water, salt, pepper, and a little sugar or jam.
• Here are some household lemon uses. Yellow is the new green!

And don’t forget lemon zest…

Zesting lemons

When a recipe calls for lemon zest, listen. It adds wonderful flavor and there really is no substitute. That’s why it’s handy to have some lemons around. And lemon zest can be frozen for months.

Here’s an easy tip from Katie E. at www.discusscooking.com: After you’ve squeezed some lemon halves out, freeze the leftover halves in a freezer bag. Then the next time you need zest, just pop one out and start zesting. Brilliant! I can’t wait to try this.

1 medium lemon yields about 1 tbsp of lemon zest.

I zest using a magic grater. There are lots of other zesters, though, including some that you can use to make long pretty strips of peel. Be sure to get only the colored part of the peel and not the white pith underneath – it’s very bitter.

Zest is often thought of as a dessert ingredient. But it is good in lots of vegetable and chicken recipes, too.

For instance, here’s a tasty summer squash recipe that calls for lemon zest.