The Global Kitchen

Ok so it wasn't life-it was a coworker with a lemon tree, and it was only about 50 lemons.

I think citrus is the zucchini of the Southwest. Seems there are lots of bags of oranges, grapefruits, lemons and kumquats with "take me!" signs in our breakrooms at work this time of year and I have friends with trees offering up citrus. One day I shall have my own lemon tree.

I love preserved lemons in Moroccan and other Middle Eastern dishes. I usually buy them at Whole Foods but since I have a LOT of lemons I decided to make my own. I used Paula Wolfert's Seven Day Preserved Lemons recipe found HERE. It's as easy as cutting up lemons and mixing them with salt and stuffing them in jars.

And yes I also made lemonade! Lemonade concentrate actually. I do buy Simply Lemonade but having homemade concentrate in the freezer is nice too.

This recipe is courtesy of Anne Hodgeman's Beat This cookbook.

8 large lemons
2 cups sugar
2 cups water

Zest lemons being careful not to get any pith. Juice lemons and set aside juice. Bring water and sugar to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly. Reduce heat, stir in zest, cover pot and simmer for 4 minutes. Strain syrup and discard the zest. Cool completely and add lemon juice.

For lemonade mix one part syrup with 2 parts cold water.

I still have lemons left which will be zested and juiced. I'll freeze the juice in ice cube trays.