Picked "some" of the lemons last weekend. Two buckets held about 400 and we just grabbed the quick and easy low hanging fruit. The tree is laden this year, and probably won't have any lemons next year due to the cold weather we are having. It doesn't hurt the tree much but it does kill the fruit buds on new growth.
The first 200 lemons yielded 20 quarts of lemon juice, which we froze in bottling jars. In past years we have frozen the juice in plastic bags, bottled it in mason jars, and made lemon jam. All of the bottling experiments turned brown from oxidation within a few months and those with added sugar went more quickly (so much for instant lemonade concentrate...). Freezing is definately the best option although doing it in plastic bags can make for a sticky mess. Thus we tried bottles this year for the first time. Oh - and one more thing. We screen off the seeds in a collander, then run the juice through a sieve to get the pulp out and we save this pulp. It is GREAT in recipes calling for fresh lemon. Our favorite use is to make cheesecake - the unbaked version.
Yes - those are onions and garlic growing in the background and the recent 20-degree temperatures did not bother them at all.
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