Lemons

When Will Holt wrote "Lemon tree, very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet/ But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat" he obviously was not talking about a Meyer lemon tree.

Over 15 years ago we were gifted a dwarf Meyer lemon tree. It was from my sister. The same sister who later gifted us with a pair of geese which my husband had previously forbidden. The sister bond can not be broken. I digress. Back to the tree.

The tree gift was planted in a large planter with the idea that it would become a "patio tree." It did well for a few years, even producing a few lemons. It was transplanted into a larger pot as it continued to grow. But as it grew ever larger it's health seemed to be on the decline.

Eventually I figured out that it needed to be taken out of the pot and planted in the real world.

I had to find an area I could plant it in that would be protected from the animals. The tower yard seemed to be the logical answer.

The tree didn't do so well for the first year or two after transplantation. I think it just took that long for it to acclimate to it's new situation. Then suddenly it seemed to take off. The flowers blossomed sweetly and soon turned into little greenish baby lemons. The baby lemons turned into grown up yellow lemons.

I used to bring some of the fruit to work where it was promptly snatched up by people eager for home grown fruit and vegetables. The tree produced so much I used to let the majority of the lemons rot. I could only drink so much tea with lemon, after all. What a shame to let those beautiful lemons go to waste.

But then I got smart. Now when the tree is glowing with it's bright yellow ornaments I pick them all and juice them. This takes a little bit of effort. The fruit has to be picked while carefully avoiding the mean thorns that protect them. Then they are washed to remove the dust, dirt, and bird droppings. Then they are cut open and juiced on the little electric juicer. When the 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup is full the juice is transferred to a zip lock storage bag. I try to get as much air out as possible before sealing and freezing.

My lemon-blueberry cheesecake (needs a bit of tweeking) but it still tastes great!

The frozen juice lasts practically forever, at least until the next year's harvest. I use it to make lemon sorbet, lemon ice cream, lemon curd, Caesar salad (the real stuff--from scratch), lemonade, and even lemon ice cubes. The latter are great for flavoring plain water. I have one binder dedicated to lemon recipes, most from magazines, but some of my own concoctions. I have a few lemon cheesecakes I made up. They still need a little tweeking, but it gets too dangerous for an already overweight diabetic to do all the testing/tasting necessary to get it right. For now they're close enough.

This year we had a bad freeze. Even though I tried to protect my tree with sheets and running water, most of the fruit was ruined. In spite of that I still managed to get about 4 gallons of juice.

One of my fantasies is that we move from this place to somewhere with more acreage. If it happens to be in an area where citrus doesn't normally grow then I will build my own orangery. I will have my dwarf Meyer lemon tree one way or the other!