Life More Social: February 2011

6 lemons
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup water

There are a few different ways to remove the lemon peel off of a lemon. I juiced my lemons first, and then used a really sharp filet knife to “skin” the lemon like you would skin a piece of fish. Alternatively, you can use a vegetable peeler to remove the peel from the lemons in long strips. Either way you want to remove as much of the pith (white stuff) as possible. You should be able to see the small holes though the white. Cut the peel lengthwise into 1/8 inch wide strips.

In a sauce pan combine 3/4 cup sugar and 3/4 cup water together.

Dissolve sugar and bring to a boil.

Add the lemon peel strips.

Reduce heat and let simmer for 15-20 minutes or until translucent.

Place the remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a shallow dish.

Remove the peel from the saucepan using tongs or a slotted spoon.

Coat each one in sugar and shake off excess sugar.

Place lemon peels on wax or parchment paper to fully dry (maybe overnight).

Once dry, store in either a mason jar or a ziplock bag.

Lemon tree in our backyard

If Life (Or your weekly organic delivery box, coupled with the lemon tree in the backyard) gives you lemons… make lemonade, and candied lemon peels!

When our organic box of fruits and vegetables showed up this week (www.farmfreshtoyou.com), our delivery contained about 15 Meyer Lemons. My first thought was “I didn’t realize that lemons were a winter fruit”, and my second thought was “What on earth am I going to do with 15 Meyer lemons?”

Meyer lemons are much sweeter than regular lemons, and their skins are edible with a little bit of sugar and boiling.

For the entire last week, the majority of the US was hit by crazy snow storms, blizzards, power outages, and hundreds of flights we canceled. From as far as I can tell, it sounded like some of the worst weather in years for the three-fourths of the country that it affected. While the rest of the country was buying more firewood, bundling up, and shoveling themselves out of their homes… I was wearing shorts (for the first time this year) and making lemonade. Here in Northern California, we sat outside in the sun, and spent the entire weekend remarking how nice and warm it was. Saturday was in the high 70’s low 80’s, and due to the drastic change in weather that felt hot. (ok I’m rubbing it in a little).

Like I said, for some reason I always think of lemons as more of a summer fruit (maybe because they are bright yellow and summery looking), and maybe because lemonade is one of the best hot weather drinks. Well, either way, if they are a winter fruit or a summer fruit – In the middle of winter (February) and in the middle of our summer like weather, we drank lemonade on the patio.