The Best Way to Store Whole Lemons

Oftentimes within the beyond, when I would go to clean out my pantry or refrigerator, I would find a couple of errant citrus culmination rolling round, moldy and unusable. Determined to stop forgetting approximately, and consequently wasting, those treasured gemstones of the flavor world, I looked round for the first-class way to save lemons and limes.
One approach, specially, advised that storing the entire fruits in water in the fridge helped them ultimate longer—up to a few months even. Despite being skeptical approximately using a huge field that takes up treasured refrigerator area, I gave it a try. To maintain a degree, I left any other whole fruit subsequent to the field, inside the refrigerator but outside of the water.

Does Storing Whole Lemons and Limes in Water Really Work?

So, how lengthy did they without a doubt closing earlier than turning to the dark aspect? I’ll cut to the chase. The citrus saved in the water grew to become a unhappy-searching brown after 3 weeks—a much cry from 3 months. The fruit left out subsequent to the container turned into further browning but much less so, and (more considerably), a good deal less…Slimy and suspect. I used a squeeze of the lime left on my own within the fridge however tossed the alternative fruit out with the bath water.

More importantly, however, I discovered it is now not even all that safe to shop lemons and limes that way. Much like how storing avocados in water is unstable, leaving citrus to wash in water creates a breeding floor for micro organism like listeria or salmonella that may be at the fruit’s skin moving into.

Long tale short, I’m fortunately skipping this lemon and lime storage “hack,” and also you need to, too. If you actually need to keep lemons in water, make preserved lemons as an alternative.

The Best Way to Store Whole Lemons

As laid out in this how-to article, and as I’ve determined in my very own kitchen, the best way to keep citrus like lemons and limes is in an airtight container in the fridge. Stored this manner, they will last as long as a month. I usually simply use a zipper-top baggie. They should also be stored away from fruits that launch ethylene gasoline as they ripen, along with apples and bananas.

Better but? Don’t hold your citrus round that long! Here are a few recipes to burn up lemons and limes in order that they aren’t sitting around, by myself and unhappy, for weeks at a time: