Lemon Theft - Capture now too many lemons

[sweet tweets]

Long story short - my sister suggested I ask this question here - but first my story.

Our house is set far back and is behind a tall fence, but the property continues all the way out to a very busy street. I saw a strange car in the drive way and realized there were two men, not spring chickens mind, stripping my two lemon trees bare of all fruit.

I raced out, demanded that they give me MY LEMONS and stop stealing I got them back, but now my poor lemons are picked and in two very heavy shopping bags. I so treasure my lemons and the abiltity to send one of the kids out to pick a couple of lemons when I need them.

So here is my question - what is the best way to make sure I have my juice and zest when I want it now that the fruit has been picked? Freeze the juice I suppose....

Any better ideas?

 

[Emzyyy]

I would of been spitting bullets! I don't know about the lemons Im sorry Im sure someone else can answer you.

 

[Mrs. Glassman]

I don't know about the zest, but you could freeze the juice in ice trays, then put them in baggies, that way you would have a measured amount when you needed it.
Sorry about your lemons.
If it had been me, I'd have beaten those men up with the bag of lemons! I hate a thief.

 

[Mrs. Glassman]

Oh...and

!

 

[JewellFarm]

squeeze them and put the juice in ice trays, freeze, then put in baggies. That sucks, sorry.

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
Also zest the rinds and freeze the bits as well. Great for anything that calls for lemon zest. You can also dehydrate the zest.

 

[jjthink]

I just had a vision of you putting fake cameras in your lemon trees (out of reach but very visible) - wonder if that would deter lemon thieves!
JJ

 

[One Acre Wonder Farm]

both the zest and juice can be frozen (separately of course).

I'm glad you were home when it happened. At the very least you have your lemons back. I can't imagine how sad it would be to come home to an empty lemon tree!!

 

[sweet tweets]

Yes, I am glad I looked out when I did, otherwise they would have been gone. It has happened before, but this is the first time I have actually gotten them back. One lady we caught before said, "But no one was using them!"

Duhhh! They don't go bad on the tree and are there when I want them or to take with me as hostess gifts... a few lemons and a dozne eggs for our friends...

Edited to add, I am gearing up to zest and squeeze about 40 lemons tomorrow morning....thanks for the ideas and support.

 

[ORChick]

Zest your lemons, and then juice them. Put a useful amount (1/2 tsp or so) of the zest into ice cube tray divisions, and fill with juice (This will keep the citrus taste undiluted). Put into a ziploc once frozen. You'll probably have more juice than zest; bag that separately. If you need juice and zest, all well and good; if you only need zest, just thaw a cube or two, drain off the juice, use the zest in your recipe, and pour the juice into a glass of water to refresh the cook. I do this when I get a "care package" of lemons from friends in California; I do miss having citrus there for the taking in my garden! I never had anybody steal my oranges when I still lived in citrus country, but someone once did knock and ask if he could harvest some fruit. I was glad to let him, though I would have been furious had he not asked.