Ideas for making Meyer lemons last after the harvest

I have a great little Meyer lemon tree that is consistently putting out 20-30lb of fruit each year.  Before now, I've never really known what to do with the fruit -- but I've discovered some fantastic uses this year and thought I'd share them with my readers.

This year, I decided to harvest my fruit in mid-February when it looked large and fresh.  I used small handheld rose snips to cut the fruit from the tree without damaging the branches or the fruit.  My tree is small enough to harvest while walking around it on the ground, but if you have a very large fruit tree see how to make this handy homemade picker.  

After harvest, the fruit will stay fresh for 2-3 weeks in a cool location (here in Arizona, my garage is the best bet in the 'winter').  I stacked the fruit in boxes in a single layer to avoid the fruit being crushed and developing soft spots.  I harvested all my fruit at once since I didn't have a lot, but also learned you can harvest in several "waves" letting Mother Nature keep your fruit fresh on the tree.  Next year I may do this to extend my harvest season for a month or more.

Okay, you've harvested your fruit - now what?  In year's past, I would have squeezed one or two lemons on fish filets and gotten rid of the rest when it turned moldy.  This year, I was determined to use every single lemon!  I started by making some old fashioned lemonade.  I found out hand squeezing lemons is very hard work, so for my second batch I borrowed my sister's juicer to make quick work of the lemons.  

For lemonade, I strained the pulp and used:

2 cups of lemon juice
10 cups water
3/4 cup of Splenda 

Of course, you can adjust this to your taste.  My lemonade was tart but very refreshing on a hot Arizona afternoon.


I used up several more lemons by zesting the rinds into stir fry, adding them to fish recipes, and also using them when making guacamole to keep the avocados from turning brown.  I also gave several large bags to friends and family.  Used rinds worked great to freshen up the garbage cans and garbage disposal.  

I was hitting the home stretch and was left with about 40 lemons that were getting soft ... so I decided to juice the rest and freeze to use later.   I used a jumbo silicon muffin mold (about 1.5 cups each) and after a day in the freezer, I popped out the "lemon cubes" and vacuum sealed them into bags so they would stay fresh.



Simplicity from my garden to yours!  Next year I hope to collect more good ideas since the tree will likely have even more fruit.  What did you do with your citrus this year?  Let me know in the comments section - I'd love to hear your ideas.