Care & Handling

Availability
Green Giant Fresh Lemons are available year round.

Varieties
Eureka: Eureka lemons are distinguished by a short neck at the stem end. They may have a few seeds and a somewhat pitted, medium-thick skin, and are abundantly juicy.

Lisbon: Lisbons have no distinct neck, but the blossom end tapers to a pointed nipple. They are commonly seedless, with smooth, medium-thick skin; they are very juicy. Florida-grown lemons are likely to be Lisbon-type fruits called "Bearss"--with two s's.

Selection
These fruits should be firm, glossy, and bright--beautiful enough to be treated as ornaments for your kitchen. Lemons should be a very bright yellow, not greenish. A very coarse exterior may indicate an excessively thick skin, which in turn may mean less flesh and juice (large lemons are likely to be thick skinned); heavy fruits with fine-grained skin are juiciest. Avoid both hard, shriveled lemons as well as spongy, soft ones.

Storage
If you are planning to use lemons quickly, you can leave them in a basket at room temperature; they will keep for about two weeks without refrigeration. Lemons stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator crisper will keep for up to six weeks.

If you have extra lemons on hand and want to save them before they spoil, squeeze the juice into an ice-cube tray, then transfer the frozen juice cubes to a plastic bag.

Preparation
To get the most juice from a lemon, the fruit should be at room temperature or warmer. Or place it in hot water or a low oven for a few minutes to warm it, or microwave it for 15 to 30 seconds. Then roll the fruit under your palm on the countertop until it feels softened.

There are lots of gadgets for juicing citrus fruits--juicers onto which you press the fruit, reamers you twist into the fruit--but it's simplest to halve the fruit and squeeze it in your hand, using your fingers to hold back the seeds. If you don't need all the juice at once, you can pierce the fruit with a toothpick and squeeze the juice from the opening; "reseal" the fruit by reinserting the toothpick. If you like gadgets, you can purchase a lemon "spigot"--twist it into the fruit, and soon the juice will pour out through the spout, which can be recapped until more juice is needed.

Recipes often call for lemon zest--the flavorful yellow part of the peel. Wash and dry the lemon. Use the fine side of a hand grater, a special zesting tool, a sharp paring knife, or a vegetable peeler to remove the zest carefully so as not to include any of the bitter white pith.

A large lemon will yield about 3 to 4 tablespoons of juice and 2 to 3 teaspoons of zest.