whole lotta lemons

When making that double batch of lemon squares this morning, my stash of frozen lemon rind really came in handy. Then I realized that most people don't have a stash of frozen lemon rind, because most people don't have a lemon tree in their yards. Frankly, the idea of grating 5 tablespoons of lemon rind sounds like a lot of skinned knuckles to me. That's one reason why I have a frozen stash.

You may be thinking that having a lemon tree means year-round lemons, but that's not the case, at least not for us. We get one crop a year, although I do know people who get two. Frankly, that one crop is enough for me to try to deal with -- and we give lots and lots away. And we keep the tree trimmed back to keep it from producing even more fruit than we can use.

Still, I'm left with dozens and dozens of lemons. Here's what I do so they don't shrivel up and become useless. (This is also a good way to process a bag of lemons you bought from the supermarket, without realizing that the recipe you were making only needed one lemon.)

Keep your lemons refrigerated until you're ready to process them, especially if it will be several days before you can get to them. Lemons keep pretty well, especially if refrigerated and kept dry.

Here's how I prep lemon rind for the freezer:
1. Wash the lemons and dry them off, or let them air dry.

2. Using a vegetable peeler, strip off the zest (the colored part of the peel). Be careful to avoid green parts (bitter) and the white part underlying the zest (also bitter).

3. Collect the strips of zest, toss them into your food processor and whiz until they're reduced to bits. If you have only one or two lemons, it still makes sense to zest them this way if you have a mini food processor to chop the strips.

4. Scrape out the contents of the bowl into a quart size, zipper freezer bag. Squeeze out all the air (flatten the bag), seal it, roll it up, and tuck it in the freezer. It keeps indefinitely and there's no need to defrost it before use. One thing to know: ice crystals may form in the bag. They won't affect flavor, but you'll have to take them into account when measuring out the zest.

Now that you've zested your lemons, you can slice them in half and juice them. It's not impossible to zest the lemons after juicing, but it requires more dexterity and perserverance to deal with the slippery halves. I have a Braun citrus juicer that's about 12 years old and still going strong, but it's no longer available. This model looks similar. With citrus juicers, you don't need anything incredibly fancy, but if you're doing a lot of citrus at a time, you'll want one with a motor. I prefer this kind to the press types, because juice from the press models always tastes more bitter to me.

If you're not going to use the juice right away, measure 1/4 cup into each well of an ice cube tray, then freeze just until frozen. Pop the juice cubes out of the tray and put them in a freezer bag for longer-term storage; this will protect them from the hazards of being exposed to the freezer air (drying out, picking up odors, etc.)

Now, you'll be able to whip up a batch of lemon squares with no trouble at all.