More Flavors of Meyer Lemons

Two weeks ago I shared the first part of my adventure with a box of ripe and fresh Meyer Lemons that I received from Kim at Rustic Garden Bistro. In that post I shared six of a promised ten ways to use Meyer Lemons. Ten is pretty arbitrary. As you can see from the many bloggers using them this time of year, the possibilities are pretty broad.
Here are the final four usages.

 

Lemon Tincture

The steps to make a Meyer Lemon tincture come from the same Imbibe Magazine article on Meyer Lemon cocktails as the Aged Rum Sour in my first post. In the article they use it to infuse concentrated lemon flavor into a cocktail named the Haberdasher. Here is the Wikipedia definition for tinctures.

I used eight ounces of 100-proof vodka and placed it in a small canning jar. To that I added the finely grated zest of one small Meyer Lemon. After capping the jar I shook it vigorously, repeating the shaking every day for 3 weeks. It needs to be filtered before usage. With the amount of time allowed for steeping the outcome will be much like bitters, as opposed to an infusion where you wouldn’t desire the same level of concentration.

The usage is most certainly slanted toward cocktails, but I’ve chosen to use it to flavor club soda. This creates a simple refreshing beverage with lots of applications. The result is kissed ever so slightly with citrus flavors and has just enough bitterness to cause some mouth watering, which always makes for a great way to prep for an upcoming meal.

I can’t finish this adventure up without another cocktail. It’s just what I do!

Meyer Lemon Martini

1 oz vodka
1 oz dry white wine
1 oz Meyer lemon juice
¾ oz lavender syrup
1/2 oz gin

Orange twist

Pour all the ingredients into an ice filled shaker. Shake, strain and serve in a chilled martini glass. Garnish with the orange twist. The dry wine and sour from the juice are balanced nicely with the lavender syrup. Using vodka and gin you get both a hardy drink and some herbal influence that the Meyer Lemon choice works so well with.

I got to thinking about using Meyer Lemons after seeing all the posts for lemon curd. It seems either curd or cookies are the most popular way to use them during their season in North America.

Meyer Lemon Curd

I used the recipe for Meyer Lemon Curd from the Merry Gourmet. I had never made curd before and hadn’t used a double boiler for anything other than chocolate, so I knew I was going to learn something new for sure. The taste of the curd is definitely unique in comparison to lemon and lime curds I have enjoyed before. Meyer Lemons are wonderful that way. We haven’t used the curd yet, but I did process the jars so we have lots of time to decide how to enjoy it.

Lemony Green Beans

For my tenth flavor of Meyer Lemons I took the butter I shared in the first post and used it to sauté green beans.

2 shallots, minced
1 large box of frozen plain green beans
2 Tbsp Meyer Lemon butter
Salt & pepper

Melt the lemon butter in a sauté pan. Add the shallots and sauté until tender. Add the green beans and sauté until cooked to the desired consistency. Season with salt & pepper.

So that is Meyer Lemons ten ways. This is definitely one of the most fun projects I have done since I got going with food blogging. Since I still have lemon butter, lemon sugar, curd and tincture left I suspect you will see more influences from this adventures in future posts.

Cheers!

Jason