Cookbook Authors Offer Useful Tips About Lemons

When life gave Sunny Baker and Michelle Sbraga lemons, they made “lemonaid.”

The authors of “Lemon Tree Very Healthy Cookbook” (Avery Publishing Group) offer the following useful tips:

Lemons stay fresh for three weeks in a plastic bag in the refrigerator, but only for a week if kept on the kitchen counter.

Never use old, dry lemons in recipes because they will give food a metallic taste. Instead, use old lemons and their hulls mixed with coarse-grain kosher salt to shine copper pots.

One medium lemon yields almost one-quarter cup of juice and about 1 tablespoon grated zest.

You can get more juice from a lemon if it is at room temperature. Roll it between your palm and the counter before cutting it.

Wrap lemon halves in cheesecloth to keep the seeds out of a dish and keep juice from spraying in the wrong direction.

When using lemon zest in a recipe, be sure not to include any of the white pith or the dish will have a bitter taste. Always grate the zest before you juice the lemon.

Grated lemon zest can be used as a substitute for salt in many dishes.

When filling your ice cube trays, add lemon zest for fresh flavor as well as a decorative touch.

You can make buttermilk for recipes by adding 1 tablespoon lemon juice to 1 cup milk and letting it sit 5 minutes.

A sprinkle of lemon juice over fresh fruits and vegetables will retard discoloration. Keep white vegetables white by adding 2 tablespoons lemon juice to cooking water.

Lemons can be used as a deodorizer in the garbage disposer.

A tablespoon of lemon juice mixed with a cup of plain yogurt makes a soothing sunburn cream.