Do you have more lemon juice than you know what to do with? It happens! Maybe your lemon tree is overflowing, or perhaps you just bought a big bag because the price was too good to pass up. Don’t let that precious juice go to waste. Lemons are wonderfully useful and offer impressive health benefits, especially the peel and juice.
Why You Should Never Waste Lemon Juice
- Health Boost: Lemon juice is packed with vitamin C, which boosts your immune system. It can also reduce inflammation and help detoxify your liver.
- Versatility: From culinary creations to household hacks, lemon juice is a multi-tasking marvel.
- Flavor Enhancer: Lemon juice can give a better taste than anything.
Culinary Creations
- Lemonade and other Drinks: The most obvious choice, but always a winner. Use your excess juice to create refreshing lemonade. You can keep it in a glass mason jar and use in salsas, drinks, or any recipe that calls for lemon juice. For an adult twist, try a Lemon Drop Martini.
- Lemon Curd: This zesty condiment is fantastic on scones, waffles, crepes, yogurt, cakes, tarts, and even straight from the jar.
- Lemon Rice: A flavorful and aromatic dish that’s a great way to use a good amount of lemon juice.
- Lemon Pasta: The Gimme Some Oven recipe for Brown Butter Lemon Pasta uses the whole lemon.
- Lemon Basil Hummus: For a savory twist, blend lemon juice with garbanzos, basil, tahini, and garlic.
- Lemon Curd Slice, Lemon Bars, Lemon Meringue Pie and Lemon Pound Cake: These are some great options for baking and using up that extra lemon juice.
- Ceviche: Use lemon juice to make ceviche.
- Lemon Butter Sauce: Use lemon juice to make lemon butter for seafood or vegetables.
Freezing Lemon Juice
- Ice Cube Trays: Freeze lemon juice in ice cube trays for easy portioning. Once frozen, transfer the cubes to a ziplock bag.
Household Hacks
- Stain Remover: Lemon juice can loosen stain molecules, making them easier to wash away. Mix one part lemon juice with two parts water, apply to the stain, rub gently, and then wash as usual.
- Metal Cleaner: The acids in lemon juice can brighten aluminum, chrome, and stainless steel surfaces. Simply rub a halved lemon over the metal.
- Shoe Polish: Rub lemon juice on dull leather shoes to clean and shine them.
- Composting: Add lemon juice to your compost bin to encourage development.
- Lightening Elbows: Lemon juice can help lighten dark, discolored skin on elbows.
Tips and Tricks
- When life gives you lemons…make lemonade.
- Consider making a concentrated syrup by macerating cut lemons with sugar, then squeezing out the liquid. This freezes well and makes great lemonade.
- Preserved lemons are awesome. They lose the pop that fresh ones have, but preserved ones have a deep lemon flavor.
- The health benefits of lemons are impressive, particularly in the lemon peel and lemon juice.
With these ideas, you’ll never have to wonder what to do with excess lemon juice again. Enjoy the zest!