Information on how to preserve a lemon is relevant not only during the cold season. This aromatic delicious fruit is needed by a person all year round. How to keep lemons at home in the refrigerator so that at any time you can enjoy a dish with lemon juice, drink tea with healing citrus or decorate a cocktail with a perfectly preserved lemon slice?
Together with sugar or honey, it turns into a treat, which is good to serve with tea or coffee, decorate fruit shakes and pastries. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain its freshness and juiciness as long as possible.
About storing whole lemons in stores and at home
According to the rules of retail chains, lemons are stored in stores at a temperature corresponding to the degree of fruit ripeness: bright yellow at two to three degrees of heat, light colored (yellow and green) at four to five degrees, fruits of dark green color at six to eight degrees. Under such conditions, the whole fruits of lemons without damage can lie from five to nine months. Choosing each exotic fruit and thinking how to keep lemon for a long time, you need to pay close attention to its peel.
It should be without damage, without spots. Around the stalk (the most vulnerable part of the fruit), a dense rough peel with the same solid structure as the whole citrus is welcomed. Any softness of the fetus shortens its shelf life. Even bright yellow, quite ripe lemons are only suitable for use in food for three to seven days, that is, immediately after purchase. If you decide to purchase more citrus fruits for one reason or another, then it is most advisable in this case to take slightly greenish, not overripe fruits with a dense texture and good quality.
Ways to store lemons: shelf life and further use
To decide how to keep lemons at home, you need to decide how they will be used next. It is known, for example, that for most people it is not possible to eat citrus entirely, even if a family of several people is drinking tea at the table, so it must be kept in sight and at the same time prevent it from spoiling or drying out. So that the lemon is always "at hand", it is placed in a special lemongrass, with a slice laid on a stand.
In the same way, an exotic fruit can be laid on a saucer. Experienced advise, before you save the lemon in this way, process the dishes in the place of fit, pour a little sugar (which is useful for tea) or salt, grate the stand with vinegar, if you have to use citrus fruit to prepare salads, sauces, main dishes. But the easiest way to avoid drying out a delicious fruit is the following: cut the “cap” of the lemon is not thrown away, but cover it with a slice and attach a toothpick in the center. This simple way helps to use lemon for at least a week, and also eliminates the drying of the zest and pulp of the fruit.
If you have to store lemons for a long time, you can choose any of the methods suitable for this purpose: place in the lower compartment of the refrigerator, wrapped in cellophane (or parchment paper); pour sugar into slices (if you plan to use them only for dessert) or pour them with honey; pickle or pickle for savory dishes. The longest managed to keep the lemon frozen.
At a temperature of +6 ... + 8 ° C
Lemon is a tropical fruit and can withstand at room temperature for several days, but not more than a week. Further, its delicious pulp will begin to dry very quickly or become covered with bluish mold. How to keep lemons at home? For this, the lower compartment of the refrigerator and cellophane film are usually used. After the citrus fruits are delivered home, it is better to remove the store packaging, replacing it with a new packaging bag. The myth that lemons are stored better in a cellophane wrapper is erroneous. The temperature difference in it, while you bring citrus fruits home, causes condensation to form, which can cause damage to the skin and the entire fruit. Of the other ways of storing lemons, experienced housewives choose to wrap each fruit with parchment paper. Then the fruits are placed in a box and covered with sand or flour, but so that they do not touch each other. This container is usually put on the balcony or placed in the cellar so that the temperature is not lower than + 5-6 degrees.
How to keep lemons at home in the refrigerator
This food storage technique is a real find for long-term maintenance of lemons in their original form. If you select moderately ripe fruits (not overripe) without any signs of spoilage, they can be stored in the lower compartment for fruits and vegetables in a dry cellophane bag with a plastic clasp for up to six to nine months. You can fill whole citruses with water, but after a day you need to change it and thoroughly wash the fruit.
In addition, slices in sugar and honey can be made from lemons. Plates of exotic fruit are cut and laid in a dry glass container on a “pillow” of sugar, pouring lemon slices into the following layers. The filled jar with dessert can be left at room temperature or refrigerated by periodically shaking the container so that the sugar melts evenly. Then the settled treat is replenished with new slices of citrus and make sure that the top layer is made of sugar. From the moment the carbohydrate melts, the jar is kept exclusively in the refrigerator.
The technology of how to store lemon with honey is exactly the same as a sugar dessert. But this time, the product is more dietetic and healthy.
Freezing
Contrary to the well-established myth that vitamin C is destroyed at too low temperatures, it is freezing that allows you to maintain this powerful antioxidant for the longest time without loss of beneficial properties. Before storing lemons for a long time, it is necessary to thoroughly rinse them with a brush and pour boiling water for a couple of minutes. This will help remove the thin wax film that the fruit is coated before transporting. It protects exotic fruits from spoilage when moving from a lemon tree to a consumer. After drying the peel, you can chop the lemons with it, because it is it that is rich in most of the useful substances that characterize the value of the fruit. Having decided how to keep lemons at home in the refrigerator, you can start cooking.
If you freeze lemon juice, you can squeeze fresh juice, pour molds for ice and put them in the freezer. After the cubes are ready, you need to transfer them to a plastic container with a lid or a plastic bag with a clasp. You can also freeze beautiful cubes in which there will be not just juice, but juice with pulp of lemon.
The zest ground with a grater can also be frozen on a separate packaging bag so that it does not freeze, and then pour it into a container. It is perfect for sprinkling desserts and any dishes. The restaurants sometimes freeze whole lemons , and then grate them before serving, sprinkling dishes.
But how to keep a lemon for a long time to decorate a cocktail with a beautiful slice? To do this, cut beautiful pieces and lay them on the packaging bag in rows, at short intervals (so that the fruit does not freeze). Then fold the rows of slices and compact packaging sent to the freezer. After freezing, the slices are carefully removed and placed in a container. The question of how to keep lemons for a long time in the form of lemon slices or small sectors (which easily break off if necessary) will be resolved.
Unique recipes: salted and pickled lemons
Pickled or salted lemons are perfect for spicy dishes, salads and savory snacks - a unique gift to the world culinary art from Moroccan cuisine. Carefully washed and dried from moisture, citruses are cut into pieces, except for one fruit, from which juice is squeezed. At the bottom of the glass container lay a sheet of laurel, a pinch of cinnamon and pour coarse salt. Then the plates of all lemons are folded and poured with juice. All voids are filled with salt.
Such a preparation is used in salads and main dishes, it vitamins them, but, as a rule, salting is usually not necessary. For savory dishes and salads, as well as tequila lovers, pickled lemons are suitable. For 6-7 fruits, take 0.5 liters of water, a glass (250 g) of coarse-grained or sea salt and 6-7 sheets of laurel. Rinse the medium-sized lemons, scald with boiling water, cool. Then cut each fruit crosswise into a 70% length, put a good pinch of salt and a bay leaf inside. Close prepared fruit in a liter jar cut down, cover with the rest of the salt and pour warm boiled water. Spice lovers can dream up by adding cloves, sweet peas, cinnamon sticks, chili peppers (fresh or dried) to the marinade. Such an extraordinary appetizer will delight guests after strong drinks, as well as add spicy notes to spicy sauces, stews or fish.