Freezing Lemon Juice and Zest

Fresh lemon juice and lemon zest can be pretty pricey most of the year, but I eliminate this consideration by freezing the juice and zest when lemons are on sale.

Roll the lemons briefly on a hard surface to release all the juice.
Then use a zester tool to harvest the zest.
Next, cut the lemons in half and juice into a strainer to remove the pulp and seeds.
Pour the juice into a plastic ice cube tray, freeze hard and then release the individual cubes into a plastic freezer bag for long-term storage.

Hint: If you will take the time to use a measuring spoon and water to know exactly how much your ice cube tray holds in one of the partitions, you won't have to guess if you have enough for a recipe.
Freeze the zest in a recycled yogurt container. Then, throughout the year when you need fresh lemon juice or lemon zest in a recipe, you already have it.

By Ronsan from Southwest Missouri

Related:
Freezing Lemons

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By 01/21/2012

Great tips, Joanne! Thanks for the ideas.

By 04/28/2010

Thanks for all your good tips.Much appreciated.

By Joanne (Guest Post) 02/06/2009

I have frozen lemon juice in ice cube trays for years. I make lemonade and lemon pies with it year round. I also use a lemon cube in my italian sauces, soups, and many other dishes to freshen the flavor. When I make freezer jam with sure jell, I melt lemon cubes and substitue half of the water to boil the surejell in with lemon juice to help cut the sugar taste. I also use the lemon zest all year and I freeze orange zest as well, so that I can make fresh tasting orange rolls all year round. Another trick I leaned from a neighbor was to freeze lemons cut up for adding to water when I have a party or to put into a punch bowl. There are so many uses. If I still have oranges left at the end of the season that are falling on the ground, I freeze the juice and use them in smoothies all year.