Trying not to waste the skins of juiced lemons

[The Dabblers]

Greetings all!

Every time I juice lemons I can't help but sigh heavily at the loss of flavour and food when the gutted skins are thrown away. Then just this afternoon I had a bright(?) idea!

I also make preserved lemons for use is Moroaccan style recipes and for roasting chicken, however a lot of recipes using preserved lemons say to get rid of the lemon pulp and only use the skins.

SO! And here is the big idea, what about only preserving the gutted skins only. I know some juice would be required but nowhere near as much if the skins were packed down tight in layers of salt then just enough juice to cover.

Incidentally I have preserved limes in the traditional way and they are better in a chook cavity than lemons.

However back to the main theme. Comments on my idea would be much appreciated as would any other ways of 'saving' those lemon skins.

Regards, John

[duonyte]

I try to always save the zest from lemons, it freezes very well - I put 1/2 tsp portions on plastic wrap and freeze like that.

Your question is intriguing and if I had enough lemon halves at some point, I think this would be at least worth a try.If you are making preserved whole lemons, why not throw in a few pulped halves?

[The Dabblers]

I will try preserving the halves but while the idea was fresh in mind I thought I would find out if anyone had tried it and if so had any tips.

Plus I hoped that there would be other ideas and I got one - freezing the zest - for which I thank you.

[Elmotoo]

i sometimes have the opposite problem... i'll throw away hardened citrus that i've zested & stuck back in the fridge because i didn't need the pulp or juice.

if i only need the insides, i will either use a knife to peel or just zest the outside first & freeze it in a baggie.

if you try preserving just the peels, please let us know how it works out.

xo Bethie

[The Dabblers]

Hi Bethie!

Basically the idea worked. It does not give a quarter peserved lemon that can present so well in a dish but if what you want is flavour like inside a roasting chook or anywhere else that does not need presentation it works perfectly.

All I did was push the skins insides down into a wide jar with a sprinkle of salt under each layer then put enough juice in to keep them covered.

Because the skins that you are putting in are cone shaped they pack flatter and easier if you cut them most of the way through so that the cone will flatten. So if it's flavour you are after the skins work well

Regards, John

PS: I learnt another trick for preserving the zest which is an adaptation of Duonyte's. Put the 1/2 tspn of zest in the smallest mould of your ice maker with just enough water to keep it pinned in place. Freeze then fill up to top with water and freeze again. The idea of the two steps is to ensure that all zest is ice coated and prevents freezer burn. To use zest cubes either thaw and just use zest or throw whole cube into dish.Learnt this from a US uni website. It works.

[Elmotoo]

very clever with the 2 step freezing! i wonder if anyone has done any testing on the flavor or fthe zest after freezing either in water or not?

[The Dabblers]

Hi Elmotoo!

I would not have recommended it unless I had tried it.

You have to remember that the flavour ingredient is an oil and does not get dissipated in the water. I can't remember the uni's name but a bit of googling would find it. They were talking about preservation of herbs in general not just lemon zest (that was my idea) so it works with parsley, tarragon, thyme etc etc

Just don't expect the thawed product to look like fresh but if it is the flavour alone that matters it works very well.

Regards, John

[duonyte]

Great ideas, thanks!

[The Dabblers]

Well for those interested I tried the using lemon peel to make preserved lemons and having tried them inside a roasted chook last night,they have been 'stewing' away for another few weeks since my last report, and I am now delighted to report that as far as I could tell they are better than using whole lemons. My suspicion is that the greater ratio of lemon oil to the mix compared to the use of whole lemons did the trick.

So 'waste not, want not' gets another little leg along.

Regards, John

[Elmotoo]

EXCELLENT! Thank you for sharing!

Beth