Sad news today about lemon prices, which have doubled or more. It’s sad because there really is no substitute for lemon in most recipes. Occasionally a light-flavored vinegar will suit, if acidity and brightness are all that’s needed from the lemon, and sometimes you can use another citrus, but in that case it doesn’t really alleviate many of the issues making lemon prices jump, like gas prices and weather damage to citrus crops.
Fortunately for me, I got two little lemon trees this spring, one a year-old Improved Meyer from Territorial, and one older/bushier one from the nursery. The younger tree is still growing its branches and leaves and whatnot, but the older one is pretty robust, except it lost a lot of its leaves when we first got it home. I learned it wanted to be fertilized! So I did that. Now it is happily leaved and it is growing me lots of tiny lemons.
Apparently it takes a long time for a tiny green lemon to turn into a delicious juicy cookable lemon, but it also (apparently) blooms and fruits whenever it feels like it, hence the tiny fruit, mediumly tiny fruit, and the blossom, all at once.
Both of these (as well as my fig and bay trees) will come inside in the winters, at least until they are bigger and hardier.
Oh, pamper those lemon trees! They appear to be finicky about temperature. We thought we had a successful one going and then, alas, it died very quickly. :( Good luck!! (And…yum!)
Ooh, good to know. Thanks. I am figuring on bringing the two lemons and the fig inside this winter for sure. I was going to leave them out until it looked like it would freeze, but maybe I will be more proactive than that …
Sorry about your lemon tree :( If I end up with too many fruits I will let you know!
You can grow lemon trees here? Great news! I love lemon, which is why I almost cried when I read that same article. Good luck getting fruit! And figuring out how to preserve it for the rest of the year. That seems to be two uphill challenges here. I can’t wait to see what you come up with. Thanks for sharing!
I used Meyer lemons for my last batch of limoncello. Shockingly, not as good as regular old lemons. Meyers are crazy good with raw oysters.