Lemons, bright and beautiful
In my Karoo pantry, lemons are as ubiquitous as garlic and olive oil, and there are always some on the kitchen table.
There’s a clarity about a lemon; a sense of perfection. It’s one of the few things in life, like the scent of a rose or a snowflake caressing your cheek, that are just perfect. Brightly yellow, so tangy, so zesty, they’re the juiciest of their kin in the citrus stable. And when you bite into or take a sip of something in which the hero is lemon – a slice of lemon tart, a spoonful of lemon sorbet – you feel like you’re eating or drinking life’s very elixir.
Living in a citrus producing region of a citrus producing country means lemons colour our Karoo world for much of the year. They hang on the trees for months as some ripen before others do. Almost everyone has a lemon tree, some entire orchards of them. Lemon cordials, essence and preserves abound, so that even out of season we can have access to their delicious zing in one form or another. They even become a part of our summers if the lemons we pick in winter are turned into lemon sorbet, read to melt the heat away from the hottest days of January and February.
The lemon cordials that you’ll find at every Karoo farm stall and tuisnywerheid shop keep seemingly forever, and can be used to make glorious fresh lemonade with the simple addition of water. You can add more sugar if you like, though most of these cordials are super-sweet. A dash of lemon cordial in a gin or vodka-based cocktail is Karoo heaven.
And there are those adventurous locals all over the Karoo who make their own limoncello, that delightful Italian liqueur. Served, of course, with an artsy curl of sliced lemon for a garnish.
One of the many glories of the lemon is its immense versatility. It can be savoury or sweet with equally impressive results. It can arrest the discolouration of other cooked foods, add that extra almost undefinable zing to a million sauces and broths; it can be the hero of a dish or a bit player, even its zest alone can turn something plain of flavour into something astounding. It can even be used to clean the pots afterwards. And outside of a cup of tea, nothing is more refreshing than lemon.
Veal with lemon is an Italian staple, the French use them in their classic tarte au citron, people throughout the world have known the joys of a lemon meringue tart since childhood, and what is a fish or crustacean meal without lemon wedges to finish everything off beautifully?
Preserved lemons, which are savoury and cured in a salt solution, are used in North African cuisines and pair well with lamb, chicken and seafood. Use preserved lemon slices and green olives in a tagine dish for robust and noble flavours.
It’s customary for writers, when exploring the topic of lemons, t0 pun on the overused phrase “when life throws you lemons”, but all I’m prepared to do with that is to suggest that when that happens, ask the universe to send a few dozen more please. There can never be too many lemons in a life well lived. A few lemon tips:
It’s much easier to zest a lemon before juicing it.
Invest in a microplane grater for zesting citrus, there just is no comparison with a common-or-garden grater.
Use a hand-held little zester for zesting strips or curls, which are great for garnishing a dish that has lemon in it.
Roll a lemon around quite roughly on a hard surface before slicing into it, to help the juice flow more freely.
Use a fine sieve when squeezing lemon juice into a bowl, to catch the pips.
Be clear that you know the difference between lemon zest (just the outer rind, super-thin) and the pith (the nasty white part between rind and flesh).
Lemons are even ironic. A lemon tart, if you think about it, is strangely sweet, and hardly tart at all.