How to Preserve Lemon Peel

Preparing Your Lemons

Choose the freshest lemons you can find; hand pick, if possible. Some people are lucky enough to have lemon trees in their yards, or live next to someone who does. Sometimes lemon trees and shrubs have sharp spiky thorns, so wear protective clothing and gloves. If you have a very tall tree, use a lemon picker. Or, better yet, grab a friend and get two lemon pickers (or more).

Sort the lemons into two groups, and then wash and dry them. One group is those with only superficial blemishes on the skin and the second group is those with deeper bruises or blemishes. This is an important step if you have a large supply of hand-picked lemons. Separate them into two bags, or bowls. If you have help, have one person wash one group while you wash another, discarding any lemons that appear moldy or infected. Pat the lemons dry or let them air dry in an area with good air circulation, because they can start to rot if they sit in water too long.

Store whole, blemish-free lemons in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. If you are using the lemons right away, you can skip this step. Lemons last longer in a plastic bag in the refrigerator, nearly four times as long as being left out at room temperature.

Cut around blemished sections of the lemons. The "cut into lemons" will need to be used first for your project, or stored in the refrigerator until you use them. Blemishes are not always terrible, but if you are going to be making something like jelly and or sugared lemon, you'd probably not want to eat an unsightly dark spot on a piece of lemon, so it's best to just dispose of them. If you want, juice the cut lemons right away. See Making and Freezing Lemon Juice, below.

Freezing Fresh Lemon Peel

Using a citrus zester, shave off lemon peel from lemon. A zester is a great tool for peeling only the exocarp (outside layer of the lemon's skin), and comes with several sizes.

Use lemon fruit for juice and piths for pectin. See Making and Freezing Lemon Juice, below.

Place lemon zest in a glass mason jar and freeze. Placing the portions in a glass mason jar, rather than a plastic bag, will ensure that the small portions are not crushed or crumbled in the freezer.

Dry Preserving Lemon Peel

Using a potato peeler, cut off lemon peel in wide ribbons. Larger strips of peel work better for dry preserving. Use the remaining lemon fruit for juice. See Making and Freezing Lemon Juice, below. Save the pith for pectin by freezing in a plastic bag.

Mix equal amounts kosher salt and sugar in a bowl. The volume of your mason jar minus the volume of your lemon peel is the approximate volume of salt/sugar mixture you will need. The volume will change depending on the size of mason jar you are using.

Add a few dried peppercorns, allspice berries, bay leaves, and cloves to the bottom of the mason jar. These are spices that will break down and diffuse into the sugar/salt/lemon mixture.

Add a layer of salt/sugar to the mason jar, then a layer of lemon peel. Repeat layers, to top.

Place lid and rim onto mason jar, close tightly, and shake several times. Since you have only peel in this mixture, the sugar and salt work together to break down the skin and to preserve it, without making it overly salty or overly sweet.

Refrigerate up to one year. Preserving this way, the lemon peel should be able to keep for up to one year in the refrigerator. Note the date and label the mason jar.

Making and Freezing Lemon Juice

Put on latex or non-latex gloves. Gloves will protect the citric acid in the lemon juice from going into small cuts and abrasions on your hands as you work with the lemons. Really, put on the gloves! You've heard the saying "Squeezing lemon juice on a paper cut"? That's exactly as painful as it sounds, plus the citric acid really does eat away at the skin.

Roll lemons a few times, with pressure, on a cutting board. Rolling the lemon on a cutting board with the palm of your hand starts to separate and break down the fiber in the lemon, making it easier to juice.

Slice lemons in half. Most lemon juicers require that you slice the lemon in half in order to provide an open surface for the juice to escape.

Zest lemon skin with citrus zester. If you don't zest the lemons now, you'll end up wasting all that good zest! See Freezing Fresh Lemon Peel and Dry Preserving lemon Peel, above. You can either use a sharp potato peeler for large ribbons of zest for use in cocktails or to infuse olive oil or a citrus zester for smaller pieces of zest for use in cooking and baking.

Place zested half-lemon in lemon squeezer and juice. Depending on your preferred method of lemon squeezing, you may end up with pithy juice with seeds or fibers.

Filter lemon juice at least once. Straining the juice allows you to filter out the tiny seeds and other fibrous material so that the lemon juice is smooth and has no particles. Use either a double or triple layer of cheesecloth over a measuring cup, or a fine metal mesh strainer.

Save spent lemon piths in a plastic bag. These leftover fibrous parts are chock full of pectin, which is what makes jelly jelly-like, so use them instead of buying packaged pectin at the store for making jellies. Store pith in the freezer in a plastic bag or plastic storage container, if you are not making jelly or preserves now.

Pour filtered lemon juice into ice cube trays, and freeze thoroughly. Freezing lemon juice allows you to preserve it for up to one year. For a useful lemonade variation, heat lemon juice and sugar (to taste) over a medium flame until sugar is dissolved. Let cool to room temperature and then pour into ice cube trays for easy lemonade ice cubes that won't dilute your lemonade.

Empty ice cube trays into plastic bags. Date the plastic bags and make sure to note whether the lemon juice is natural or has added sugar, and freeze for up to one year.