Meyer Lemon Zest
 

Morten made a comment about using lemon zest in his rub, and I
wanted to just make mention of something I learned. We have a
MEYER lemon bush out behind the house. It's not that big- maybe
5' in diameter, but it produces an unbelievable number of lemons.
The Meyer lemons are larger than the typical grocery store variety
and range in size from that of a large lemon to almost the size of
a small orange. The bush behind my house produced just over 240
of them last November and it reached the point where my neighbors
would almost lock their doors when they'd see me coming with yet
another bag of lemons.<grin>

Meyer lemons have a sweeter flavored juice than regular lemons,
and you need to make some adjustment to recipes when using it.

The lemons I kept were juiced and the juice frozen in pint
containers for future use. On the spur of the moment, I zested,
bagged and froze the rinds of approximately 6 dozen, thinking I'd
have the rinds to use in rubs and sauces.

When I tried it the first time, however, everyone agreed that I'd
been inebriated when zesting the lemons and had zested oranges
instead. The frozen, dried zest was orange in color and the taste
was indistinguishable from that of an orange. That's not good
when making a lemon butter for scallops, for instance.<grin>

Anyway, it's a "heads up" to anyone planning to exploit a lemon
tree or bush in their yard- the Meyer lemon is terrific, but be
careful about the sweetness and the flavor of the zest.

--
Nonny

Giving money and power to
liberals is like giving
whiskey and car keys
to teenage boys.

Meyer Lemon Zest
 

"Nonny" > wrote in message
>
> When I tried it the first time, however, everyone agreed that I'd been
> inebriated when zesting the lemons and had zested oranges instead. The
> frozen, dried zest was orange in color and the taste was indistinguishable
> from that of an orange. That's not good when making a lemon butter for
> scallops, for instance.<grin>

One of my favorite methods of preparing scallops is to sauté them in butter
with garlic and remove to the plate, then in the pan add some OJ and reduce
or use a spoonful of frozen concentrated orange, a little sherry, and pour
over the scallops.

Meyer Lemon Zest
 

On Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:51:08 -0700, "Nonny" > wrote:

>Morten made a comment about using lemon zest in his rub, and I
>wanted to just make mention of something I learned. We have a
>MEYER lemon bush out behind the house. It's not that big- maybe
>5' in diameter, but it produces an unbelievable number of lemons.
>The Meyer lemons are larger than the typical grocery store variety
>and range in size from that of a large lemon to almost the size of
>a small orange. The bush behind my house produced just over 240
>of them last November and it reached the point where my neighbors
>would almost lock their doors when they'd see me coming with yet
>another bag of lemons.<grin>


Wish I lived a bit closer to you...I LOVE fresh tree-ripened lemons,
and you don't get 'em up here.



Desideria

Meyer Lemon Zest
 

On Jul 16, 4:51*pm, "Nonny" > wrote:

> Anyway, it's a "heads up" to anyone planning to exploit a lemon
> tree or bush in their yard- the Meyer lemon is terrific, but be
> careful about the sweetness and the flavor of the zest.

Okay, I'm going to have to penalize you five yards for taunting.

Cam
play ball!

Meyer Lemon Zest
 

On 16-Jul-2009, "Ed Pawlowski" > wrote:

> "Nonny" > wrote in message
> >
> > When I tried it the first time, however, everyone agreed that I'd been
> > inebriated when zesting the lemons and had zested oranges instead. The
> >
> > frozen, dried zest was orange in color and the taste was
> > indistinguishable
> > from that of an orange. That's not good when making a lemon butter for
> >
> > scallops, for instance.<grin>
>
> One of my favorite methods of preparing scallops is to sauté them in
> butter
> with garlic and remove to the plate, then in the pan add some OJ and
> reduce
> or use a spoonful of frozen concentrated orange, a little sherry, and
> pour
> over the scallops.

There's one of those pearls that someone cast among the swine and I was
lucky enough to find it.

Thanks Ed.

--
Brick said that.

Meyer Lemon Zest
 

"Nunya Bidnits" > wrote in
message -
> AFA Meyer lemons, I just don't see them here, but I've seen
> plenty of
> recipes and they would be great to try some time.
>
> MartyB
>

Marty, I'm too lazy to Google their history, but deeply suspect
that they're a cross between some orange and lemon variety. The
juice and pulp is far less biting than the lemon juice you get
from grocery store lemons and the yellow zest turns orange color
when dried. . . and tastes like an orange when heated with butter,
as I mentioned. The fruit itself is weird, in that it's almost
invisible against the foliage until it begins to turn yellow after
Thanksgiving. Suddenly, after a casual observer would swear the
bush was devoid of fruit, it suddenly is a yellow bush of lemons
with just a 'few' leaves. <grin>

By the way, I learned the hard way that citrus bushes have
incredibly strong and very painful thorns. Think of them as a
rose bush with a bad attitude. <grin>

We also have several other small fruit bushes in the yard:
Besides the 5' diameter Meyer Lemon that produced over 240 lemons
last year, we have what's called a Fruit Salad bush. It's about
6' tall, 5' in diameter and has an Eureka lemon, a Valencia Orange
and a Kaffir lime. Naturally, it's a grafted bush and production
is around a couple dozen of each type, so far. Out front, I
planted a small Mexican Lime bush on one side of the drive, and
both a Grapefruit and Kumquat on the west side of the house. This
first year, I have no limes at all, 3 grapefruit and the Kumquat
is covered with BB-sized fruit, which may not make it this first
year.

--
Nonny

Giving money and power to
liberals is like giving
whiskey and car keys
to teenage boys.