I love a fresh lemon slice in my iced tea but the lemon usually spoils before I can use the whole thing. I'd slice it up and put it in the fridge but, by the end of the week, it's slimy and spoiled. Until I thought of this trick.
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I enjoy having cut up lemon in my Coke, lemonade, water, etc. However, often before I get the whole lemon used up, it becomes brown and soft.
I love lemons, if for nothing else other than for a facial astringent and putting down my garbage disposal. I also like to use them on my salmon (fish) and in water.
I slice all my lemons. Then I will wrap two or three slices together in Sarah Wrap. You can wrap more if you like. When I need lemon slices I just take out one of the little packages and the lemons are as fresh as when I sliced them.
You can buy lemons in the winter when they are cheap and freeze the juice in ice-cube trays. One ice-cube section equals about 1 tablespoon of juice.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
A friend shipped me fresh lemons from her tree. They froze in shipment and now they are thawed. Can I wash them and cut them in half and refreeze them to use for juice?
By Sylvia F
I would juice them now, then freeze the juice.
I zest my lemons and squeeze them before I freeze. The juice goes in one container and the zest goes in another
That's really not answering the question if lemon juice is already Frozen and it thaws out can you refreeze it
I think it would be fine, as long as the lemons were not thawed for too long.
Can you freeze lemons?
By Jen Harvey from Rio Rancho, NM
I buy lemons by the bag, juice all of them and put a tablespoon of lemon juice in each ice tray slot and freeze. Then I pour the frozen cubes in a zip lock bag and keep them handy in the refrigerator freezer.
During the winter months, I drink hot tea with lemon to keep from having colds. So far, knock on wood, I have not had a cold this season.
I have seen on Thriftyfun that you can also grate the outside peeling and freeze that too. This is a great idea as some recipes call for this.
Juice lemons, pour into an ice cube tray and freeze the lemon juice.
You can slice them or cut in wedges, whichever you prefer, then freeze them on a cookie sheet. When they are frozen solid, transfer to a plastic bag. Best to double bag them.
I just throw them in the freezer. You don't have to do anything with them.
I juice my lemons and put one cup at a time in zip lock bags for lemonade and recipes. If you freeze lemon juice in ice cubes, and then take the cubes and put a number of them in a zip lock bag, you can take out small amounts when you need them.
I also freeze the rinds in a bag. If I need lemon zest, it's easier to grate when the rind is frozen. I also put the flush frozen lemon rinds down my disposal with hot water to fresh my disposal and kitchen. If you freeze your lemons, you'll have them available whenever you want them.
Hugs, Bobbie
How do I freeze lemons?
By Kathy from Englewood, FL
I get the juice out of them and then freeze it in ice trays, putting one tablespoon of juice in each cube. After they are frozen, I dump them into a big mixing bowl and scoop them up and put into zip lock freezer bags. Makes it convenient to make pies, cakes, lemonade or whatever you want to make using lemons.
You can also grate the zest of the lemon before you juice them and freeze it as well.
I wrote a post on this very thing a few months ago. I use lemons from cleaning to putting in my water. In CA as in FL, we have some beauties! What I do is have several sizes, one I just clean, slice and freeze. Before I freeze I lay them on a paper towel; this helps them from sticking together. Use before completely thawed out (if I want for water, put the slice in before freezing) then use as you normally would.
For adding that great citrus to dishes I freeze some just cut in halves (what's left over after use) keep adding to same plastic bag. Once thawed enough to squeeze you'll find its just like when fresh. Lastly if you have a lemon that isn't good for freezing as a slice, or in halves; just put pulp in plastic bag.
I take the lazy way out - I freeze lemons and limes whole, untouched. I find that when I thaw them, they are easy to squeeze, and give a lot of juice. I buy them when they are on sale, and then I have them on hand at all times. I have never had a problem with doing it this way. It's so much easier than juicing a dozen or more lemons or limes, and I think I get a lot more juice out of them this way.
How long will they last frozen? 6 months? or longer?
Thanks.
By Lyn
I zest them and put the zest in one freezer bag. I then squeeze them and save the juice in a separate container. They last a long time.
We juiced lemons and froze them in icetrays. Our freezer broke. Can I refreeze the lemon juice?
By Ron C. from Chalmette, LA
Lemon juice and lemon peel zest can be easily frozen for use later. This is a page about freezing lemon juice and zest.
Frozen lemons are amazing for juicing. When defrosted they are soft, and just bursting with high quality juice. This is a page about use whole frozen lemons for juice.
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How do you freeze lemons? I have too many and don't want to lose them.
