Monday, June 16, 2014

Lemon tree, very pretty

The chorus of this Peter, Paul & Mary song has been going round & round in my head for months now as I waited (I thought, in vain) for the green fruit on my dwarf Meyer lemon tree to ripen. The green fruit hung on all through the heatwave last summer that burned most of the leaves. More leaves grew but the fruit stayed green. I even thought I'd bought a mislabelled lime by mistake. However, some research revealed that lemons can take up to seven months to ripen so I just kept feeding the tree, humming my song & waiting. A few weeks ago, they began to ripen & now the tree is bowed down with gorgeous lemons.

So now, I'm looking for lemon recipes. I made this lemon shortcake to take in to work today for morning tea. It's an easy recipe, a short dough flavoured with lemon zest. Three quarters is pressed into a rectangular tin, then a lemon curd mixture goes on top & then crumble the rest of the dough on top of that. Some of  the edges were a little too brown so I had a taste as I was slicing it up & it's lovely. Quite tart but a little cream & a sprinkle of icing sugar will take the edge off that.
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4 comments:

  1. RoseJune 16, 2014 at 8:41 PM

    What a beautifully healthy tree Lyn!

    Do make some preserved lemons for yourself, even a small jar, you can use them for so many purposes. Taste has a nice recipe. http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/19837/preserved+lemons

    Lemon curd is lovely too, I recommend Sally Wise's traditional recipe, it's easy and reliable. http://www.sallywise.com.au/recipes/lemon-curd/

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    1. lynJune 17, 2014 at 7:47 AM

      Lemon curd is a good idea, thanks Rose. I've never had preserved lemons so I'll have a look at the recipe.

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  2. Cosy BooksJune 16, 2014 at 11:16 PM

    Your Meyer looks super, Lyn! I've had one for about four years now and get ridiculous amounts of pleasure from watching it fruit and ripen. My average yield has been eight lemons but for some reason this year all of the green fruit has fallen off *sigh*.
    The squares look, and sound, absolutely delicious!

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    1. lynJune 17, 2014 at 7:49 AM

      The first year, all the fruit dropped off my tree as well. Not that there was very much, only a few tiny green fruit. I just can't believe it survived the summer but it's looking so healthy now. The shortcake was much appreciated & is nearly all gone.

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