In My Garden: Meyer Lemons!

Meyer lemons are without a doubt the best lemons invented. They are thought to be a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange. They are sweeter than regular lemons and have an almost orange tint to their very thin skins. It's perfect lemon for baking sweet lemony desserts, for using in marinades and salad dressings, for making lemonade, and for putting up jars of preserved lemons that can be used in a variety of dishes. (There are many easy recipes on the internet for making preserved lemons.)

The tree is an easy tree to grow, and you will find many Southern California backyards have at least one Meyer lemon tree. My wife, Laura, loves using Meyer lemons in her cooking and baking so I planted three of them for her so that she will have lemon juice and zest year round. If there is an abundance of the lemons at one time, she will zest and juice them, and then freeze the zest and the juice in either small containers or ice cube trays for later use. The above picture is just one of the several bowls we have gotten from just one tree this season.

below: Meyer lemons all scrubbed clean and ready for zesting and juicing.

below: a jar of preserved lemons. Lemony and salty, they are an unusual and tasty condoment you can finely chop and add to many dishes after cooking, such as soups, stews, rice dishes, noodle dishes, even on top of pizza.