Monday 11 July 2016

Making The Most Of Citrus Fruit.

When most people think of Winter they think of colds,  the flu and putting the heater on.  I love Winter for the cold weather,  comfort food and most importantly,  citrus fruit.  At this time of the year citrus fruit is in abundance and it's cheap. My girls love oranges as a Winter snack. They cut them up into eighths and eat every last drop of pulp.  Much better for you than store bought orange juice and cheaper per portion size.

I love to make 50 / 50 cordial for the family . It's made with 3 oranges and 3 lemons. So to have the cheap Winter fruit available for cordial in Summer, I zest and squeeze the oranges and lemons into a container and freeze. I also make a whole orange cake that uses one orange. I just blend the whole orange ( minus the pips ) in the food processor and freeze it in a container for all year round baking.

Lemons are coming into season too. With supermarkets selling them at 80 cents each, I'm very grateful that my lemon tree is in it's sixth season of bearing a good amount of fruit. To make the most of the "free" lemons, I zest them and freeze the zest for lemon slice, lemon and pistachio biscuits, lemon chicken and savoury chicken or salmon flan. Then I juice them and pour the juice into ice cube trays and freeze. The ice blocks are stored in an airtight container to be used on fish , pancakes, to make lemon butter, jam.  lemon slice etc, etc. This year I'm planning on slicing some lemons and freezing the slices to make lemon chicken.

It's great to have these items on hand in the freezer. It stops the need to run to the supermarket for one lemon. I'll bet it would be out of season and you'd be paying premium prices.

If you haven't thought about it before, growing a lemon tree is great. It looks good, the blossoms and fruit smell divine and a bowl of lemons on the kitchen bench is a little ray of sunshine in the middle of Winter. It can be grown in a pot too. Best of all, you'll get your money back from the cost of a tree in no time.

So if anyone offers you a bag of lemons, or your neighbour has a tree with too much fruit for them to use, you'll know what to do with it.



Lemon butter
Orange cake and muffins
Freezing the juice.
Lemon butter for presents
Getting ready to make 50 / 50 cordial.

6 comments:

  1. I had a thriving lemon tree, it was a few years old and bearing well, then it started showing signs of disease, I threw everything at it that I could think of to no avail, then in desperation I thought maybe it needs some lime...it didn't...the lime finished it off good and proper! I've left it in the ground until Spring comes around, just in case, but I'm not hopeful, because I've gone and bought a replacement, which I'm still to plant out, come to think of it, I should do that today. But yes, I believe every Aussie backyard should have a lemon tree, they are so useful, not just for eating, but for cleaning with as well!

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  2. Hi Wendy,

    I really do love Oranges and Lemons. I only just Mooed your homemade 50:50 cordial last Friday as we were having guests and I didn't have any soft drink, they loved it.
    I'll be buying up big and freezing for summer.

    Thanks, xxx

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  3. Hi Wendy. We are going crazy for citrus at my house at the moment, especially the navel oranges which are so juicy and sweet. We are taking an orange to work each day and our little one is eating one everyday too. Your 50/50 cordial sounds amazing and I'll give it a go. Unfortunately I do have limited freezer space to juice a large amount and store for summer. Hopefully if I play tetris with my freezer enough I might be able to fit a little bit in there!
    Amy

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  4. Lemon trees grow really well in a decent sized pot. Rather than an expensive pot from the Nursery pop into your local tip shop. Look around and see what will do the same job. A 44 gallon drum, cut in half makes two brilliant pots for growing small fruit trees in. I have a Lemon tree in the pot and one in the ground. The one in the pot is doing better than the one in the ground.

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  5. Have no space for a lemon tree on a small city balcony. I considered buying a heater but settled on my electric throw rug warm jumpers and a hot shower before bed. Flannel sheets are my friend and I do have a electric blanket which I only turn on to heat bed.
    Drying clothes inside despite no heater. Good insulated curtains and door stoppers can't be underestimated I got mine on sale at spotlight. Wendy, since I have no lemon tree could I use the bottled one? Also recipes for salmon flan and lemon butter ?? I am trying to find money where there is none.praying for a part time job as my disability doesn't allow full time work too many appointments and get sick too often . Can you tell me if your soap and washing powder ok for sensitive skin ? Also my nana a country lady still alive and well in her 90s advice for sore throats : boil kettle let cool until warm not hot. Add three teaspoons of salt water per cup and gargle not swallow twice day add lemon if you wish it kills bacteria . I just love old country tips the elderly can give us in times gone by !!

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  6. I've just juiced a heap of oranges for juice, this can be poured into plastic bottles and frozen too. I had a bag of lemons given to me and made lemon butter last week and will make ginger beer as well. I have an orange and mandarin trees in my garden and love them. Free fruit!

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