Posts tagged "lemons"

Five fantastic things to do with overripe fruit

“Overripe” is a bit of a euphemism – I mean fruit that’s past its raw eating prime. Fruit that’s going off a bit, frankly. I don’t mean mouldy or otherwise rank fruit, just fruit that’s just not as fresh as it once was.

Bake fruity breads, cakes and muffins

I’m pretty sure everyone knows that overripe bananas make THE BEST banana bread, right? When they’re brown and soft, they are easier to mush, sweeter and more banana-y. There are thousands of banana bread recipes out there from the simple to the … well, not complex but slightly less simple.

Other verging-on-too-soft fruit can used for baking too – orange muffins, summer berries including strawberries can be used for an oat-topped “crisp” pudding, and of course apples can be crumbled, pie-d or stewed.

Freeze citrus fruit juice

Citrus fruits don’t follow the same sliding scale of ripeness as other fruit – they’re either good or they’re bad, no real inbetween.

If you’ve had some oranges, lemons or limes in your fruit bowl for a while and don’t think they’ll last much longer – act now! Squeeze the juice out of them and freeze it in ice cube trays for use in future cooking.

Or if that’s too much, cut them into wedges or slices and freeze them separated out on a cookie sheet (once they’re frozen, you can put them in a bag or box – but freezing them separately prevents them from sticking together so much). They can them be used in drinks – working as both fruit and ice cubes.
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How can I reuse or recycle … out of date lemon juice?

Lemon juice in a bottle in the fridgeI have a (not terribly developed or serious) conspiracy theory that brand-name lemon juice manufacturers always put a January/February “best before” date on their lemon juice bottles to make everyone buy new lemon juice in time for pancake day each year.

Consequently, I tend to ignore such dates but by this point in the year, when it’s pushing a year after the date on the bottle, I start to get a bit dubious, despite there being half a bottle left over.

I know that lemon juice can be used for a ton of cleaning jobs around the home but have only ever used it for descaling the kettle. Any other cleaning suggestions?

And is there anything else we can do with it in addition to making our home sparkling and lemony?