I have an ungodly amount of fucking lemons help

[JustStickItInAJar]

My absolutely Beautiful mother and father in law have come over for a belated Christmas celebration as I had surgery at Christmas and she was on holiday anyway. My father in law is Indian and she is Italian. Somehow on their travels this past year she/ they have acquired a metric fuck ton of Lemons, limes, and lots of other lovely things to make curries and chutneys which is incredible.

She is staying for 2 months which is lovely..

She unloaded their car (drove from Italy) and she’s brought about 25kg of lemons and limes. Probably more. I laughed when she said that I needed to buy some jars.

What the fuck can I do with that many lemons?? She’s going to make us all some beautiful dishes but she also wants to make Leon curd / chilli & lemon pickle but that’s probably 4 jars??

help!!

Lime pickle with the limes and chillies if thats the kind of thing you like.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/lime-pickle

This recipe really is good. I dont bother with the tempering as such, just stick it all in the pan together. It lasts forever and tastes even better when its been left for a few months.

Freeze slices for G&Ts. Lay them on greaseproof paper until frozen so they don't stick together.

Juice them, and freeze the juice the skins.

I'd let her cook all the things and if any are left over; freeze in slices for adding to teas etc. Don't give yourself too much work.

I would put 10 in the fridge to use, make a couple of jars of lemon curd and gift the rest to friends and neighbours.

They’d just be used here. We eat A LOT of lemons.

Same here. Lemon slices in tea, lemon salad dressing, hummus.

Buy some ice lolly moulds and pour lemon juice into them to make refreshing lollipops for summer 😋. Wishing you all the best for your treatment and a speedy recovery x

Just wanted to add if you put citrus fruit in a sealed bag with a damp tissue in the fridge they will last weeks and weeks. You don’t actually need to do anything with them immediately. If some have blemishes use them first as they won’t last so well.

There's an old fashioned recipe I happened upon - an inverted lemon tart (I don't think exactly like a tarte tatin) - really worth doing!

Just placing a like here for my appreciation of your thread title and opening post. Haven't we all felt like this about something?!

Given how great your MIL sounds, could you say to her it seems overwhelming and ask her to do it all?

When I make cordials, as well as sterilising the jars I add a small amount of crushed campden tablet (sodium metabisulphite) to the syrup itself as well. It is the preservative used for eons in home brewing/cordials/etc and very effective. You could consider this for your jams and pickles too - they wouldn’t normally need it but I can see that with the chemo you’ll be wanting to be doubly cautious.

Hope your treatment goes as well as it possibly can.

No recipe advice but my friend has just messaged me from his place in northern Spain to say they have a glut of lemons on their trees. It’s time!
Having been through chemo myself, I wish you all the best. Take each day as it comes. Marvellous you have support at hand.

Lemon curd is so easy to make and so delicious. I'd make a lot of it. More than four jars!

You could also make lemon marmalade but could be more of a faff.

Preserved lemons in brine are very easy to make (good with middle eastern dishes) especially if there are any small lemons to use up.

You could also make spicy lemon pickle - like Indian lime pickle but with lemons instead.

And you could just zest them then squeeze them and freeze the zest and juice to use all year long. And also cut into slices and freeze the slices to use in drinks all year long.

I am quite envious of you. I'd be tempted to stick a bowlful of them in the kitchen just to scent the house with that lovely fresh smell.

Delia Smith's Lemon Merinue Ice cream is really easy and no icecream maker needed.

If you don't mind, would you please tell me exactly how you make the marmalade in the slow cooker. Never thought about it and I use my slow cooker a lot. Many thanks

I have no advice beyond what's already been offered but just wanted to take a moment to appreciate your excellent post title. Wishing you every ounce of good luck with your treatment, it sounds like you've got some incredible people around you... Not to mention plenty of vitamin C.

Ah OP ❤️ I've got a huge lemon tree in my garden which is groaning under the weight and I don't know what to do with them 😅

Sorry to hear about your upcoming chemo, I was in the same situation two years ago and it was rough. How lovely your MIL and PIL have come all this way laden with lemons 🍋🥰

I've bought jars in The Range before now, reasonably priced as I recall. They also sell them in Hobbycraft I think.

Make lots of jars of lemon marmalade, lime pickle, preserved lemons.

We make tons and tons of those things. You can also slice lemons and other fruit, and freeze it for putting in drinks.

Actually this thread reminds me, I once worked with an Italian woman and she said her dad and grandad had arranged for some grapes to be sent over to the UK from Italy so they could make wine.

The grapes arrived in a lorry. 😂😂

As others have said, keep as many as you can in the fridge. Others you can freeze to use in cooking. Keep some fresh for your suocera (not you) to cook with or preserve. Give the rest to friends and neighbours.

Oh, and for sterilising, if you’ve got a dishwasher, that should be fine. I make jam, and sterilise the jars in the dishwasher. After bottling, I seal them by boiling the filled jars in a saucepan, with water up to their necks.

I was also going to suggest sterilising in the dishwasher on the hottest temp, just make sure you don’t stick your fingers in them or the lids when getting them out!
Best of luck with your treatment and your in-laws sound wonderful. I feel the same about my mil, she’s such a loving constant in my life and has supported me from being a teenage mum and every day since. I’m in my 40’s now and she’s never stopped being my biggest cheerleader.
Give in to being looked after for a bit and the boost in your vitamin c levels!

Make limoncello. Very easy