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!!

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

Yes, sterilise

Sympathies rgds chemo .I've done my share, and making preserves would not be on my list of activities during treatment. Can't you just ask her to sort it out? You have enough to deal with. If you juice, and scrape pith, you can dispose of the bulk of whole lemons hanging about. If these are those gorgeous Italian lemons it's worth the effort. Hot wash and scrub first to clean off sprays etc. Juice them all and freeze the juice . I use plastic tubes that my calcium pills come in. I scrape out some flesh and pith separately and freeze that too. You could appeal for plastic pill bottles etc on Freegle, Freecycle or Next Door type sites .Perfect for storing single lemon juice quantities .If you just want to get rid , offer the lemons for free on those sites.

And fine grate some of the cleaned peel of course .also freezes well.

10 litre of gin and 100 bottles of tonic will put a good dent in the lemons and limes. 😆 🤣 😂. Plenty electrolytes before bed and the morning after the next 2 months and you will be grand..I hope! 😆 🤣. Lemon marmalade sounds nice too mind you,not too keen on the curd. 😃

If your mom is staying with you for 2 months.. I'm sure she has a handle on what to do with the lemons.. she will take care of it. With all your going threw..don't worry about the lemons. One day at a time.. Father in law is going threw chemo now too.. we lost our mother inlaw 2 years ago.. just Injoy having your family there to help.

James Martins Saturday show is on atm and he is cooking with lemons.

You cant boil glass, it will crack.

I would say warm water would be ok with Milton?

Hope your treatment goes well and enjoy all the lemony treats. X

@JustStickItInAJar Alternatively juice lemons, apples and oranges (in fact any fruit you like) and freeze in ice cube trays. For a soothing drink particularly if you can't face eating put a single ice cube in a mug and over with boiling water.

i wouldn't use milton - i don't care what anyone says you can still taste it.

You can sterilise them in the oven if you are careful about what glass you use. And of course some glass that is produced for jamjars can absolutely be boiled. We do it all the time. (I have never ever bought jam in my life)

We have one of those big hot water things for sealing the jars after the jam is made (we also make other things like pasta sauces) and they don't need to be refrigerated afterwards.

Good luck with the chemo @JustStickItInAJar

Hot water causes the chemicals in Milton to break down.

However, it's fine to boil glass - just check for chips or cracks on the rim first and making sure that they are allowed to cool down naturally, not doing it with cold water, until they are absolutely dry (the residual heat helps this).

Sounds like Mama has brought all of the vitamins with her.

Did she bring olives, too? Salty, savoury things can be very good for taste changes post chemo sessions (a lot of people find that tomato, sweetness alone without acidity and dairy products taste less nice for a while).

Lemon curd. Lemon marmalade. Lime and lemonade drinks. Lemon, honey and hit water drinks for colds, sore throats, coughs. Lemon meringue pie. Home made lemonade. Loads of things to use lemons in. Take a look online.

Ooooh limoncello 😋 Do you have a good recipe you could share please?

@Ladygodalmighty i don't drink but when i did limoncello would be close to my last choice but i knew it was made from lemons. i looked it up for you and this one seems good and easy. enjoy

Drop some off at nursing/ residential homes. They would be very grateful..

The trouble is if they're f.....g lemons you could end up with 100s more, I'd separate them.

I have one lemon. About an inch long, but itmy own, homegrown lemon. I am very proud of it (and slightly sad it fell off the tree.)

Good luck with your chemo! ❤️

You can sterilise jars on the hob in a pan with boiling water. I can't recall how long for, but Google can assist on that one I'm sure.

I've not read all the thread so apologies if I repeat but a must is lemon drizzle cake and my son had a glut of lemons a while ago and made lemoncello. Kept in the freezer for the longest time and tasted divine 😜

Share them out with your local community or food bank

Really easy and absolutely delicious no stir lemon ice cream recipe;

3 lemons
200g sugar
500ml fresh whipping or double cream, chilled

Remove yellow part of peel with a knife or fine peeler, put in blender or food processor with the sugar and whizz until peel disappears into the sugar. Add 6tbsp of the juice, blend again then stir into the cream. Allow to thicken for an hour. Taste and add more lemon juice if needed, then freeze.

Best of luck for the chemo.

@JustStickItInAJar Sorry to hear you are having to go through chemo, and I hope it goes well.

A few ideas for the lemons.

Lemon sorbet, might be good for sore throat
https://www.recipesfromitaly.com/italian-lemon-sorbet-recipe/

Limoncello is delicious, so definitely as many bottles as you can make
https://www.recipesfromitaly.com/homemade-limoncello-recipe/#recipe

Prue Leiths lemon meringue pie is the best recipe I've used and uses a fair amount (6 just looking again) of lemons. You (or someone else) could just make the pastry base and fill with the curd and make several to freeze, and then you can just take out and defrost before topping with meringue and baking.
https://thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/recipes/all/prue-leith-lemon-meringue-pie/

You could pare off the peel and freezer, and then you can take out what you need...a twist for a martini, finely chop some for a recipe

Make some lemon drizzle cakes, with a lemon in each cake a lemon for the syrup drizzle. Freeze and eat at a later date. Even better, slice and then freeze so you can just take a slice out, as and when

Slice and freeze on grease proof paper so they can be stored in a bag once frozen and they won't stick together

Chinese lemon sauce for chicken uses a lot of lemons. This one is similar to the one I use, but annoyingly, I can't find that one
https://tasty.co/recipe/chinese-take-away-style-lemon-chicken

No tips for lemons but have an idea for your glut of chillis.... my Dad gave me a huge amount and a quick and effective way to deal with them was to string them up in bunches by sticking needle & thread through their stalks and then tie them on to one of your curtain poles. They dry out beautifully and every time you need one for cooking you can just snip one off!
Good luck with your treatment, hope is a wonderful, precious thing 🤗