Too many Lemons

September 14, 2012 3:41 AM

What to do with a large surplus of lemons and limes?
posted by Lone_Wolf to Food & Drink (32 answers total)

Lemonade. One portion simple syrup to juice, three to four portions water. Simple syrup is half sugar, half water, simmer until the sugar dissolves.
posted by Ghidorah at 3:50 AM on September 14, 2012 [4 favorites]

Lime pickle

Preserved lemon.

Both keep forever, and make great gifts. The lime is basically the best dal accompaniment ever. The lemon is great in everything from tagine to salad to pasta to soups.
posted by smoke at 3:56 AM on September 14, 2012 [2 favorites]

Candied lemon slices. (Or at the very least, candy all of that lovely peal you'll have from doing other things. Mmmmm.)
posted by anaelith at 4:03 AM on September 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

Avgolemono. Previously.
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:10 AM on September 14, 2012

Margaritas. Lemon tart. Lemon bars. Lemon sugar scrub.
posted by Jubey at 4:10 AM on September 14, 2012

Another vote for preserving them with salt.
posted by Azara at 4:12 AM on September 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

Limoncello, if you drink alcohol.
posted by rpn at 4:18 AM on September 14, 2012

make lemon/lime juice ice cubes and preserve for multiple uses... including cleaning your garbage disposal...
posted by fozzie33 at 4:20 AM on September 14, 2012 [5 favorites]

Lemon Lime Marmalade!
posted by Kimberly at 4:21 AM on September 14, 2012 [3 favorites]

Lemon Meringue Pie
posted by Michele in California at 4:26 AM on September 14, 2012

Take them in to the office and give them away.
posted by pompomtom at 4:38 AM on September 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

Key Lime Pie is the first thing that came to mind for me. I have made it with regular limes and had it turn out wonderfully.
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 4:46 AM on September 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

When life gives you a large surplus of lemons and limes...juice and zest them. The juice will keep for a few days in the fridge, or longer frozen. For the zest, you may want to freeze it in a good airtight container.
posted by samsara at 5:04 AM on September 14, 2012

Homemade salsa! Super easy to make and so, so very delicious.
posted by nikkorizz at 5:22 AM on September 14, 2012

I second fresh lemonade, far superior to the bland stuff you can buy.

Lime marshmallows are amazing, I dont have my recipe handy but this one looks close.
posted by shothotbot at 5:23 AM on September 14, 2012

Also limes make a great marinade for grilled chicken and fish. Fish tacos anyone?

AllRecipes.com has pretty good list of lime recipes that you can take a look at.
posted by nikkorizz at 5:24 AM on September 14, 2012

Slice them up and freeze for use in drinks - lay the slices flat on a freezer bag while they are freezing so they don't all stick together.
posted by Lanark at 5:33 AM on September 14, 2012

Well, hot weather is almost over, but a blender jar of simple frozen daquiris - just cheap clear rum, lime, sugar, and ice - uses 6 limes, in my kitchen. My normal Friday-in-August lime purchase is around 40. (Sometimes the manager has to come over with a special override code to enter a number that high.)
posted by ftm at 5:34 AM on September 14, 2012

Ceviche! I would love to make ceviche again, but limes are stupidly expensive where I live.
posted by third word on a random page at 5:35 AM on September 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

Won't use up many, but have you ever put salt & lime on buttered corn? OMG GOOD!!!
posted by Ys at 5:38 AM on September 14, 2012

Curds. Lime curd is fantastic!
posted by peacrow at 5:39 AM on September 14, 2012 [2 favorites]

Lemon and/or lime sorbet. If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can make it granita-style in a sheet pan, or use crushed dry ice (or liquid nitrogen!) in a stand mixer. A little vodka will keep it from freezing too hard.
posted by supercres at 5:41 AM on September 14, 2012

Juice 'em and make popsicles!
posted by raztaj at 5:56 AM on September 14, 2012

Pierre Hermé's Lemon Cream:

It has all of the ingredients you find in a traditional lemon curd, but the way you make it changes the cream's texture...the lemon cream is silky, luxurious and yes, extraordinary.

posted by bcwinters at 6:17 AM on September 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

Get some Miracle Fruit Tablets and invite some friends over for a tasting party.
posted by Rob Rockets at 6:29 AM on September 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

A spin on something already suggested: get yourself a giant name tag that says "Life" and give people in the neighborhood or at your office the extra lemons you've acquired.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 6:53 AM on September 14, 2012 [3 favorites]

Squeeze the juice out of them.
Measure out a convenient amount (say, 4 oz) of juice and bag it in a ziploc. Repeat
Freeze.

When you want lemon or lime juice, pull a bag out of the freezer. Tada! If you don't want a full bag's-worth of juice, just break off the amount you do want and put the bag back.
posted by adamrice at 7:59 AM on September 14, 2012

Seconding the perserved lemon -- that is dead easy and I've found all sorts of ways to use it. In fact, here's my favorite (and if this doesn't encourage you to preserve lemons in salt, nothing will) - get a cut-up chicken from the supermarket (the thing that's usually a single chicken, cut up, for frying), and about a pound or two of potatoes. Cut the potatoes into chunks, dump them in a roasting pan and drizzle them with olive oil. Then tuck a couple pieces of preserved lemon in among the potatoes and add a half inch of water to the roasting pan. Lay the chicken parts on top, and roast at 400-450 for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Presto - a fantastcally-seasoned dinner made from only three ingredients.

Or even easier - mush up a slice of preserved lemon and smear it on top fish filets before broiling them.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:39 AM on September 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

Best answer: We freeze them whole and thaw them when we need them. The juice from the thawed fruit is pretty much indistingushable from fresh, and it is actually a little easier to recover, because many of the pips rupture. The oil comes out of the skin, though, which makes them less useful for cocktails where you want a twist of the rind for the oils. It also makes the zest less potent, so if you want zest, best to collect it before you freeze them (you can dry it or freeze it separately).
posted by Good Brain at 11:23 AM on September 14, 2012

Whiskey sours.
posted by bassomatic at 11:42 AM on September 14, 2012

Lemon and/or lime syrup! There are as many ways to make it as there are Google search results for "lemon syrup," but I usually just combine juice and simple syrup in a 1:1 ratio. The syrup keeps well in large resealable bottles or jars in the fridge, and you can use it for adding to soda water to make your own fruit sodas (this is mostly what I do with mine), adding to mixed drinks, topping ice cream, cakes, berries, etc.
posted by rhiannonstone at 12:20 PM on September 14, 2012

Shaker lemon pie is pretty good and uses a lot of lemons.
posted by hattifattener at 12:42 PM on September 14, 2012