Monday, August 6, 2012

Lemon Zest

Whenever I visit my Aunt M and Uncle Bruce in Kelowna, I take away something new about cooking.  They are excellent cooks and I would describe a meal with them as simple, healthy and delicious. On this trip Aunt M made us a salad with parmesan, anchovies and lemon. What she does with lemons caught my attention.

She freezes the lemon and pulls it out when she needs lemon flavouring. In this case, she grated a lemon, skin, pulp and all - in its frozen state - over the salad.  The robust flavour of the lemon was refreshing on a warm Kelowna evening.

She uses the grated frozen lemon anytime an infusion of lemon is called for in a recipe - sweet, savoury, maybe even in a cool beverage. I will be copy-catting her from now on. Probably with limes too. Starting tonight!
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3 comments:

  1. LauraAugust 7, 2012 at 9:45 AM

    So, does she freeze it whole, or is it cut in half? And if it's a half lemon, how is it packaged in the freezer? Are there always lemons in the freezer? Or do you plan a bit ahead?

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  2. CherylAugust 7, 2012 at 10:26 AM

    1. either whole or half. Then returned to freezer after scraping
    2. probably a ziploc bag or airtight container.
    3. She got the idea from a friend with a lemon tree who decided to do that with all the extra lemons. So the friend always has lemons. I suspect I will have to not only plan ahead, but remember it's there.

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  3. UnknownJanuary 22, 2013 at 10:05 AM

    Fresh ginger also freezes nicely! Simply place the unused piece of ginger in a freezer bag and stick in the freezer. When you're ready to use it again, simply grate the frozen ginger into your dish....is comes out as a fine powder so you don't even have to peel it! Bon Apetit!

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