This is the best time of year to buy citrus because it is in season. It is the most flavorful and the prices are the least expensive. One of the few things I miss about living in Arizona is our citrus trees--especially our lemon tree. The lemons would start ripening just after Thanksgiving and were at their peak at Christmas time and for a month or so thereafter. A Christmas gift for my neighbors was always a freshly baked lemon meringue pie with a basket of lemons.
Just recently, my daughter's in-laws brought lemons back from a trip to Arizona and I was reminded about how much better the lemons grown in Arizona were as compared with the ones that we buy here in Colorado at the local grocery store. They are noticeably larger and much more flavorful. I still do not know why we can't purchase this wonderful citrus here in Colorado when we are so close to AZ. Since Paula's in-laws were kind enough to share their bounty with her, she returned the favor by making her father-in-law a lemon meringue pie. The recipe called for 1/2 cup of lemon juice, or the juice from 3 lemons. She measured 5/8 - 3/4 cup juice from only one lemon.
So what do you do when you have an abundance of citrus that won't last forever? When we were in Arizona, I had an electric juicer and I juiced all of my lemons, and then froze the juice in ice cube trays. When the cubes were frozen, I would pop them into a zip lock bag, and then I would have enough lemon juice to last the rest of the year. Talk about yummy lemonade...the best! You should also remember that the fruit will be the most flavorful if you leave it on the tree and pick it as you need it, or until there is danger of a frost or the fruit is so ripe that it begins dropping from the branches.
Comparison between AZ lemons and locally purchased lemons
