Learn the easy secret to keeping your lemons and limes fresh longer. No more overripe citrus with this secret trick!
I have to keep lemons in the house at all times-for water, cooking, and cleaning! There's not much worse when cooking than to grab a lemon, say to whip up some Lemon Greek Potatoes (one of my favorite recipes!) and go to juice it and it's hard and totally dry inside.
No sir. Talk about a letdown! (And don't get me started if that happened with a lime when I'm making my favorite cocktail!!)
That exact situation was happening all too often to me until I figured out a few years ago the secret to keeping lemons (and limes) fresh for UP TO A MONTH! Yes, that's right! With this method I've kept citrus fresh for four weeks-boo-ya!
The secret is to keep the lemons refrigerated and here's the kicker-immersed in water!! First, wash the outside thoroughly-you won't believe the ickiness on the outside of citrus, believe me, there have been studies...you don't want to slice those babies without cleaning them up, same for storing them!
After cleaning place in a large container-I use wide mouth mason jars for just a few or larger glass containers for an entire bag. Fill with water to cover the lemons completely and seal the top! That's it! The coolness of the fridge and the lack of exposure to air keep the lemons perfectly juicy and ready for you to use when you're ready!
Now-someone tell me the best way to keep apples fresh because it never fails that if I buy a few at a time my boys eat them in a day, if I buy the whole bag they get grainy before they get eaten!!!
Carole says
This also works with avocados. However, the avocado will not ripen while immersed in water so if it needed to ripen a bit more when placed in water, take it out a day or two before you need it.
Melissa Riker says
Great to know, I'll have to try that!
Frankie Vandergriff says
Can u use a hard thick plastic container to put your lemon in to keep them preserved😀