Loving Limes Year Round

One of the selling points to our new house, was the mature citrus trees in our backyard. When I saw the beautiful lime and orange trees for the first time, my eyes opened wide as I thought of all of the endless possibilities that fresh citrus could bring to our kitchen.

Nessie, our 1-year-old lab, was my picking buddy.

Today, I wanted to share with you a simple way to keep lime (or any citrus) juice fresh year round. Having mature trees means that we receive fresh limes for about half of the year. After enjoying and gifting the limes to friends and family, I felt bad as I watched the remaining limes fall to the ground. So, I decided to freeze the juice and use it later in a refreshing drink, satisfying dessert, or just as a way to liven up the dull winter months.

Start off by picking the most appealing limes. Then, wash and dry them, and set them aside. Now it is time to gather your supplies. You will need a lime juicer, cutting board, knife, cheesecloth (not featured), bowl, and ice cube trays. I would also suggest setting up your shop next to the sink (this process can get messy fast).

Once you have your supplies ready, you can start by cutting the lime in half. From here, take one half of the lime and start to press down into the lime juicer. (If you don’t have a container below your juicer, like mine, make sure that you have a container to collect the juice). Once you have enough juice in your container, take your cheesecloth and place it over the bowl. You will then pour the juice over your cheescloth and into the bowl. (You can skip this step if you don’t mind seeds and pulp in your juice). Once all of the fresh juice has been filtered through the cheesecloth, you can now pour the juice into the ice cube trays. Place the filled ice cube trays into the freezer for atleast 24 hours before you use the lime ice cubes, and then enjoy! For fun, I would also suggest placing a berry or a mint leaf in each cube prior to freezing for a nice surprise.

We recently enjoyed the refreshing water hinted with lime cubes at a dinner party