I use lemons, as I’m sure most people do.    I use loads of lemons and always have plenty in my fruit bowl.

Every morning, when I wake up I have the juice of one lemon in a mug of hot water and every so often, I think to myself that I should zest the lemon before pressing out the juice but I never do.  The good thing about lemon skins is that they make the waste-disposal unit smell great!

I use lemons in cooking, often using the zest then forgetting I have an unprotected lemon lurking in my fridge and it goes rock hard.  I do occasionally freeze thin slices of lemons to pop into drinks to chill them as I don’t like ice in my drinks.

And then I saw a clip on YouTube – freezing a whole lemon (organic of course, thoroughly washed and dried);  finely grating the WHOLE lemon and storing the gratings in a clip top box and keeping in the freezer.   This I had to try!

The gratings stay free-flowing and are absolutely amazing to use in cooking, sprinkling over  breakfast cereals (my husband always has bircher, and I often have  porridge), over ice cream, soup, salads, noodles or spaghetti.   I often poach salmon fillets in the oven and the gratings are perfect for sprinkling on to the salmon along with black pepper.  Same goes for chicken fillets or even a whole chicken.  A whole range of food and recipes can benefit from these gratings and the beauty is that the WHOLE lemon is used, not just the zest or juice.

A whole grated frozen lemon

Even as I write this blog, ideas keep flowing in – add to smoothies, turn a plain yoghurt into a lemony one, sprinkle over a fruit salad etc.  The gratings almost immediately thaw and release their wonderful citrus smell and flavour.  No more waste.

“An excerpt from from the Health Extremist blog:  The health benefits of lemons and lemon juice are pretty well-known. But if you’re like the majority of people, you are probably squeezing out the lemon juice and tossing the left over lemon peel in the trash! I used to do that too!

But wait, wait, wait, that lemon peel contains even more nutrients, vitamins, and health benefits than the lemon juice.

Nutrients and Health Benefits in Lemon Peels

Lemon peels contain about 5 to 10 times more vitamins than lemon juice! Yep, that’s what you’ve been wasting!

They are also an excellent source of fiber, potassium, magnesium, calcium, folate, and beta carotene. Lemon peels improve bone health too! Since they contain high amounts of calcium and vitamin C, lemon peels have been shown to aid preventing osteoporosis, inflammatory polyarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis.”

I am going to start experimenting using this grated lemon for my morning drink;  I might even try freezing some ginger root and grating that too so that I can add a little to my drink as I know the health benefits of ginger are amazing.

NB: All the photographs used in this blog have been taken by me, and are of food I have prepared myself.