When life gives you lemons

When life gives you lemons..... 

you had better use them before you lose them as my dear sister would say!

Today we tackled the lemons we had been given by my mom in law and made all sorts...

My daughter used a Jamie Oliver recipe to make a lemon shortbread.

My son and I squeezed over a liter of lemon juice and made a lavender and lemon concentrate and froze half a liter of lemon juice for later use. 

For the concentrate he dissolved 1 and half cups of sugar in 2 cups of boiling water and then allowed a handful of fresh lavender flowers to steep in the hot syrup for half an hour.

 Then he strained the syrup to remove the solids and added 2 cups of fresh lemon juice to the syrup.

We bottled it and to make it up, dilute 1 part of concentrate to 3 parts water with loads of ice....

very refreshing and tasty!

He made a delicious lemon and custard desert for this evening .

I made a lemon chutney which will apparently be the perfect accompaniment to Indian food.

Here is the recipe:

4 lemons washed and thinly sliced, seeds removed and rind left on

2 onions thinly sliced

1 tablespoon salt

1 cup vinegar

250g sugar

50g seedless raisins

7.5ml mustard seeds

2 tablespoons grated ginger

2 finely sliced chilies

Sprinkle salt over lemons and onions and allow to stand for 2 hours.

Place all ingredients into a pot with lemon and onions and bring to the boil.

Simmer until lemon rinds are soft , about 30 minutes.

Bottle in warm, dry jars and seal.

I thought we had used the very last lemon, only to discover we had about 20 more in a bowl in the lounge!

Perhaps my daughter can make some lemon curd tomorrow and we will make some more lemon cordial or perhaps some iced tea, lemon flavored of course!