Lemons Forever

 

 I love lemons, I can’t get enough of them, lemon desserts, lemon drinks, lemon scent, anything lemon, well, I have two exceptions, I don’t like the colour yellow, and I’m not keen on savoury dishes flavoured with lemon, but sweet lemon desserts, I could eat them all day, that would be my lemon heaven.

 

 

For as long as I can remember, my passion for anything lemon has been with me, as a child, when friends went for chocolate ice cream, I chose lemon, they wanted orange juice, I wanted lemon juice, and as for strawberry – filled chocolate bars, you can keep them, give me lemon – filled.

 

 

My family knows better than to bring me chocolate, it has to be something lemon, when ordering dessert in a restaurant, or cake in a coffee shop, I don’t need the menu, I just ask ‘what do have that’s lemon flavoured?

 When I make a cake, a dessert, ice cream, yes, you guessed, it’s invariably lemon-flavoured, most, if not all, of my dessert recipes, are lemon recipes.

 

 

My next lemon experiment, is to make limoncello, something I’ve been yearning to do for ages, each time it came to mind though, it wasn’t lemon season here in Greece, most people think lemons are a summer thing, but no, they’re harvested during the winter months, and I wanted to use lemons straight from the tree, not bought in a shop.

Homemade limoncello is far superior to shop – bought, there is no comparison!

 This year, I have vowed to myself that limoncello is definitely going to happen; I shall seek expert advice from my gorgeous Italian friend, Mirella.

 

 

Mirella’s authentic, homemade, Italian limoncello recipe was handed down to her by her father, you can’t get much more authentic than that!

 

Mirella’s authentic, homemade, Italian limoncello recipe

 

Ingredients

1 Kilo large lemons (unwaxed variety)

750 mls of either Greek tsipouro, Italian grappa, or vodka

1 Kilo sugar

500mls Water

 

Method

 

We only need the lemon peel, not the whole lemon, so peel the lemons as thinly as possible, scrape off and discard any white pith that may be present on the peel.

Put the lemon peel and alcohol into a large lidded jar and store in a cool, dark place for one to two weeks and give it a good stir every day.

After two weeks, put the water in a saucepan, along with the sugar and bring to the boil on a low heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.

Remove from heat and leave to cool.

Once cool, add the lemon and alcohol mixture and mix well, pour into large airtight jar and leave in fridge for one day.

Strain the liquid, discard lemon peel and pour into glass bottles and keep in the fridge, or even better, in my opinion, the freezer.

Italians drink this delicious, lemony beverage after meals, as a digestive, Mirella tells me, Italians drink anything alcoholic after a meal, my answer to this Mirella, is, I would drink your heavenly limoncello morning noon and night!

 

 

Lemons weren’t always grown in Greece, it’s thought they originated in Asia, and made their way to Europe, via Italy, famous for juicy Sorrento lemons, around the second century AD.

 

 

Greece is awash with lemon trees, there are acres and acres of lemon groves, nearly every Greek garden has a lemon tree, but not my garden!

 How can this be, you may be thinking, a passion for lemons and no lemon tree?

  Well, I nearly had a lemon tree in our garden, which I had patiently grown from a lemon pip, I took care of it as if it were my baby, my patience and care paid off, it was flourishing.

  When the lemon tree was large enough, I transplanted it from its pot, to the garden and proudly checked its progress each morning.

 One morning, my tiny lemon tree was gone, I rubbed my eyes and looked again, no, it was not there.

I asked MGG (My Greek God) if he knew anything about the tree’s whereabouts, at first, he didn’t know what I was talking about, when the penny dropped; he looked at me sheepishly and admitted that he had wrenched it out by its roots!

‘Why’ I asked, ‘and what did you do with it?’

  He had thought it was a weed, and had thrown it over the garden wall, on to some waste ground, (The only time I was happy to hear this, his habit of throwing garden cuttings over the wall drives me crazy).

 I ordered MGG to go and look for the poor little lemon tree and bring it back, which he did, he didn’t dare refuse.

 I planted the tree again but it just shriveled up, from shock I suppose.

 I now have a new little lemon tree on the go, again, grown from a pip, MGG is not allowed anywhere near it, and, in the future, if it bears fruit, he’s not having any of it!

 

 

My love for lemons is not only restricted to their flavour, I adore their smell too, so fresh and clean, so tangy, so, well, just so lemony!

 Body lotion, shower gel, furniture polish, floor cleaner, it all has to have the whiff of lemons, our house smells like one big lemon!

 I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, you already know, right? But, I only wear lemon scent; Eau d’Hadrien by Annick Goutal is my first choice.

 

 

When finances are not what they should be, I buy an amazingly cheap, Greek, lemon cologne, Mirto, from the supermarket and splash it everywhere, I spray it on bed linen before ironing; I spray it in the air as an air freshener, it costs around five Euros, which is about £4.50, I’ve seen the same cologne on EBay UK for £15.00, I kid you not.

 

 

 When I first arrived in Greece, in 1977, all the Greek men used this lemon cologne as aftershave (MGG still does), and mothers cooled their babies down with it in summer, it’s the smell of Greece!

 ‘Fifty lemons are a load for one person, but for fifty persons they are perfume.’

Ethiopian proverb