Lemon Picking Day!

[Cappy]

We spent the first of Feb. picking and processing the fruit from our lemon tree. Here is a picture filled report complete with a couple videos of the whole thorny adventure. it was fun to do with friends.

http://cappyandpegody.blogspot.com/2016/02/lemony-pickins-series-of-unfortunate.html

[meaux fishing]

nice post as always

[Cappy]

Thanks, it was a fun day.

[latravcha]

Kind of make me glad that my tree is still young and I only get a dozen or so lemons from it.

[Cappy]

LOL there is sooo many wonderful things to do with lemons when ya tree gets big let me know. I'll que ya in.

[simplepeddler]

I want to grow up and be just like you Cap!

Looks like good times for sure.

[Cappy]

LOLnya really should have higher aspirations dude. But thanks for the thought.

[Reefman]

Question Cappy, what do you do with all that juice? Do you freeze it? How long will it hold up in refrig?

[Cappy]

We freeze it for future use. In the fridge it is good for several months A gallon usually last us from 4 to 6 months and it stays great in the fridge. We have kept some in the freezer for 2 years and it was still great after thawing. The thing to remember is to let it thaw fully before using it.

[Gerald]

Crappy..... I enjoyed your videos.

As you know, I do [or did] a similar process.... until my lemon tree froze 2 years ago. I was too sick that winter to get out and protect my tree when it got down in the low 20's. My 5 other type fruit trees all survived with very little damage. I have a new Myers lemon planted but don't expect it to produce much for a few years. I am getting low on my frozen bottles of lemon juice. I have not bought lemons in 15 years.

Tip for anyone that wants to juice there fruit..... don't wait too long to pick and juice the fruit. I find that by mid January the lemons start to "dry" up and not have nearly as much juice. Other fruits seam to hold there juice much longer.

I wish I had help when I go through the same process. But one big difference is I use an electric juicer which speed up the process. The juicer comes with 2 different "cone" sizes.... but the manufactures must have never used their juicer on a Myers lemon or grapefruits. The cone they make would work better if it were bigger.

Using the juicer does not require the lemons to be pealed. When finished, I have a bucket or 2 filled with the lemon rinds. I use to just throw them out [compost] but a few years ago, I started grinding them up in a food processor and freezing them. I use the ground lemons when boiling seafood / crawfish.

.

[Cappy]

Good looking operation and I like and may make marmalade from the peelings we have julienned them and made lemon flavored vodka then sugared them and dried them for rind candy.

[Gerald]

I tried making marmalade last year for the first time. The first 2 batches were with Mandarins rinds. They came out fairly good. First batch was not too firm after it set up. Second batch I cooked it 2 or 3 degrees hotter and it came out too firm.

Then I made a batch with kumquats. That is a lot of work on such small fruit to take out the seeds and get them cut up. This batch got a little "brown" because I turn up the heat a little and maybe did not stir it enough.

I read a bunch of information and most indicated that the cooking time was not that long..... maybe 1 hour. My batches took about 2.5 hours but I make almost a gallon at a time.

Crappy.... to make the marmalade do you add your sugar when you first start cooking or do you cook the rinds some and then add sugar. How long do you cook a batch? Do you soak the cut up rinds over night?

To cut up the rind, I found that using the food processor with the slicing blade does a fairly good job of cutting up the rinds. There will be a few big pieces that I cut up some more.

I find the marmalade makes a great Old Fashion.
.

[Cappy]

Thanks so much Gerald we feel horrible dumping all those buckets of rinds in the compost pile. This is all we have done with the rinds so far.
http://cappyandpegody.blogspot.com/2013/04/lemon-shine-revisited.html
next time we will grind and freeze them as ya mention. or slice and freeze to use later. As you know harvesting and guicing is a pretty tough job and once frozen we can take it out and make it at our leisure. We have made lemon jelly in August because we felt like it. Freezing gives you the luxery of not having to do it ALL at once.

[redaddiction]

Thanks so much Gerald we feel horrible dumping all those buckets of rinds in the compost pile. This is all we have done with the rinds so far.
http://cappyandpegody.blogspot.com/2013/04/lemon-shine-revisited.html
next time we will grind and freeze them as ya mention. or slice and freeze to use later. As you know harvesting and guicing is a pretty tough job and once frozen we can take it out and make it at our leisure. We have made lemon jelly in August because we felt like it. Freezing gives you the luxery of not having to do it ALL at once.



I have heard of people making "candied lemon peel". Makes sort of a sweet and sour treat. That's about all i know about that.

[Cappy]

We preserve the peelings in vodka first that adds shelf life to the candy of course it hardly ever last that long.