LEMONS, ANYONE?
It is probable that the lemon is the most valuable of all fruit for preserving health.
~ Sophia Emma Magdalene Grieve, aka Maud Grieve (1858 – 1941) A Modern Herbal (1931)
Spring is here, and what better time to begin exploiting the wonders of lemon! That delicate but agreeably fruit-flavored acid that wakes up food and calls the taste buds to attention, sometimes with unexpected surprise. Lemonade, marinade, marmalade, candy, sorbet, in hot or iced tea: refreshing and interesting. Adding lemon to drinking water can lift sagging spirits with a single sip. Lemon in the mornings get things moving, giving your bio-system a spring cleaning. A sophisticated curl of lemon peel makes a cocktail confident.
Lemon protects fruit and, as a shield from the air, keeps cut surfaces perky. Adds a kick to whipped cream for a dessert topper. Who doesn’t love lemon meringue, the adult version of a cream pie? The sweet and sour combination probably confuses small children. More for us!
As a simple garnish, zest of lemon is like wrapping the dish in a bright yellow ribbon. An implement for shaving the zest is called . . . a lemon zester. Add a sprinkle of lemon peel to a dish and taste it kick up it’s heels, dancing en pointe in your mouth.
SELECTION
Look for a skin of bright lemon yellow color and a bit of a sheen. Choose lemons that are heavy with a thin, smooth skin; those are the ones containing the most juice. Store at room temperature for a day or two; any longer and they should be refrigerated or they’ll go bad in short order, and more than turning sour they get a little sad.
SQUEEZING
Submerging an uncut lemon in a glass of warm water will bring a lemon up to room temperature and facilitate juice extraction. If a lemon seems stiff or has a thick skin, press the fruit against your palm while rolling along the countertop to loosen the juice inside before squeezing. A reamer will help get the juice out, twisting it into the cut half. Use the pulp as well in measuring out the quantity of juice.
SHARPENING
In marinades, lemon tenderizes meat and acts as a preservative, so you can marinade at room temperature. On raw fish, the acid actually ‘cooks’ the seafood. Lemon is a brightener for soups, a compliment to cooked fish (as well as a neutralizer of fishy flavors) and a adds a refreshing aspect to poultry. It makes a more delicate salad dressing than vinegar. Did you put too much sweetener in a dish? Lemon can dilute the sweetness. (The opposite is also true.)
Today’s preparation is for Lemon Chicken, a simple way to cook a bird and, with swirl of butter in the pan at the end, combines with the cooking juices to flavor the rice in delicate lemon goodness. What could be an easier usher for spring?
