When life gives you lemons…make lemonade.
When life gives you just one lemon…make Pete’s lemon cordial!
As those of you who join us regularly will know, we’d been waiting and waiting and waiting for our very first lemon to ripen. It took months to finally turn yellow.
We were pretty chuffed when we finally harvested it! It had a thick rind and a respectable quantity of tart, acidic juice. It was also completely seedless – I’m not sure if that’s a product of the variety, or the plant’s immaturity.
We deliberately chose to plant an old fashioned “bush” lemon, rather than the prettier, thin-skinned varieties. We’ve been told that the thick rind and pith offer better insect protection, which is important as we don’t use chemical sprays in our garden (although we do have to treat the leaves with organic Eco-Oil in an attempt to keep the leaf miners at bay)…
To properly showcase our one solitary lemon of the season (there are others growing on the tree, but they’re all small and green), we made Pete’s One Lemon Cordial…
- 1 lemon, juice and rind
- 1 tablespoon (4 teaspoons) powdered tartaric acid
- 2 cups (500ml) boiling water
- 2 cups (440g) white sugar
- ¼ teaspoon lemon essence (optional)
1. With a peeler, remove the lemon rind in strips, making sure to avoid the white pith. Place this in a large heatproof jug and pour over the boiling water. Stir well to release the essential oils.
2. Add the sugar and stir well. Then add the tartaric acid, the unstrained lemon juice (pips and all is fine) and the lemon essence (optional, but we usually add it). Stir well, then strain into a clean, sterile bottle and store in the refrigerator.
We mix our lemon cordial with either plain or soda water, usually at a dilution of one part cordial to five parts water. I’ll often add a dash of bitters as well.
It’s a cheerfully refreshing drink!
. . . . .
And just for fun, here’s Kate Ceberano’s One Note Samba which I was humming as we made the cordial…
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
What a great idea lemon cordial with 1…. I will give it a go and pop some vodka into it!
Tania, now you’ve done it. I’m going to be making cocktails this weekend.. ;-)
Prefer lemon to chocolate any day. I can’t imagine how excited I’d be if I’d grown my own lemon,
Sally, honestly, we watched and watched this lemon just sit there on the branch for months. Then there was a week of deliberation about whether or not it was really, truly ready to pick.. ;-)
What a perfect lemon Celia! Pete, fantastic cordial recipe too!
:-) Mandy
Thanks Mandy! We were pretty chuffed with it.. :)
I’l definitely have to remember this next time life throws me one lemon… :D
May it be a real lemon and not a proverbial one, Nick! :)
One would hope so…
I bet the lemon cordial tasted supremely good – it would have to be, made with the ONE special lemon! May there be many more. I’m presuming as the tree get’s a bit older it will procude more and more easily?
Claire, there are several on the tree growing now, some quite large, but all still green. Hopefully the tree has got it figured out now! We’ve planted kaffir, finger and tahitian limes as well, but don’t expect anything from them for a few years yet!
Congratulations on your harvest!! :-)
Thanks Sponge! :)
It is a bit like my one pineapple a season….I’m sure you are as proud of your lemon.
Deb, I love your annual pineapple harvest of one! :)
Love your celebration of the lemon. Similarly, I harvested my 12 olives and preserved them.
This is a timely recipe for me, Celia and Pete. The lemon fairy at my office now has a friend, so we have lemons from TWO lemon fairies. Bookmarking the recipe now!
Lizzy, we’re swamped with lemons too – everyone else’s trees are going gangbusters! :)
Congrats on your first lemon and good on you for doing it justice. I am a fustrated lemon grower, our tree is three years old and still no lemons as the 2 year old harvests them as 1 cm specimins!
Max, you made me laugh! Hopefully your tree will grow taller faster than your 2 year old! ;-)
Wonderful.. Lemons take such a long time to fruit and so exciting when you finally get a taste! c
Celi, you’re so right, we waited and waited for this one. I was so relieved when we cut it open and it was perfect inside! :)
I’m suffering from Lemon envy :(
What a beautiful Lemon indeed! I’m still waiting for my citrus trees to fruit, they look nice and glossy, get special doses of fertilizer… But nothing!!
Becca, this is our very first citrus in three years, and we planted an expensive advanced tree! It seems to like the spot it’s in now…
Glad to learn your lemon finally turned yellow, I am sure the others will follow soon. Great recipe Pete.
Norma, it’s lemon season over here, and we seem to be getting lots given to us. But it will be so nice when we have our own to pick!
I never knew you could make cordial with one lemon! Maybe, just maybe my tree will be kind to me this year. It has lots of flowers on it at the moment but it has fooled me several times before.
Claire, Pete and I really couldn’t remember where the recipe for the cordial came from – Pete’s been making it for years. This is the first time in 3 years that we’ve been able to pick a lemon, so I’m sure your plant will soon follow suit.
Congratulations! Our lemons are on the same ripening schedule. I have a Lisbon lemon; chosen after many tastings for it’s very tart lemony flavour and thick skin.
Elaine, I’m not sure what variety we planted in the end, just that it was a “bush” lemon. Hope you get lots of fruit! :)
Hi Celia,
Amazingly quite a lot of lemons this year; considering most of the blossoms for the other citrus trees were descimated by orange stink bugs with such a wet summer……..aargh there’s always next year isin’t there.
Elaine, people have been thrusting lemons into our hands from all directions! It seems everybody’s trees are madly producing – I have about 3kg of donated lemons in the fridge and on the bench at the moment! :)
I wish I had a lemon tree.
I think I will go and purchase a lemon and make up the cordial anyway.
It sounds like a great recipe for a refreshing drink!
Lovely lemon, btw.
Heidi, thank you! You can grow a very nice lemon tree in a big pot, you know.. ;-)
That poor little lonely lemon. And what a meagher harvest. But, I guess this lemon has had more focus and attention on its development than any other lemon I know of! That’s so funny! I’m glad you were able to use it to make something. One little lemon went a very long way! xx
Charlie, I’m glad you can see how funny it all was, it was like having a spoilt firstborn, we fussed and fussed over that one little lemon. I hope we didn’t give it a complex.. ;-)
Your lemons look gorgeous. I love the idea of fresh lemon cordial but have never used (or bought) tartaric acid – is it there for zing or to keep it longer or something else?
Hi Johanna! The tartaric acid is for taste – it adds to the lemon juice and rind flavours…
Splendid looking citrus!! Congratulations.
Thanks Amanda! Very exciting, it was! :)
Yum Celia, home made cordial is great! What a lovely lemon…may it be a sign of more lemons to come!
Jane, thank you – I hope so too!
Wishing you many lemons and limes too! My favorite is cutting the lemons in half, scoop out the flesh, pack with a slice of fresh mozz, a slice of tomato, a basil leaf and a bit more mozz Bake until bubbly. serve on hot bread. nom!
That sounds like a wonderful way to use them, Maz! Must remember it when we manage to pick more than one.. hahaha
Himself squeezed some of our lemons and we put the juice into ice trays & made ice cubes so we have lemon throughout the year. He was very excited cos his lime tree had it’s first crop I think there are 4!
We’ve just planted our lime tree! How many years did yours take before it fruited, Sue?
Perfect lemon!
Thanks Anna! :)
The first lemon…and perfectly shaped. I go through so many lemons in a week. One thing is miss about not living in Florida is the tropical fruit trees. I’m going to be humming that little song all day. It is so cheery.
Karen, I’m glad you enjoyed the clip – Kate Ceberano is a well known Australian singer/tv presenter. I was a big fan of hers during her 80s jazz days…
It was lovely Celia…thank you for sharing.
Thanks for the recipe. Our lemon trees have been going gang busters. In fact, we have a whole lot of meyer lemons which I have to find a use for!
How exciting for you! I can’t wait until we have lemons coming out our ears! :)
Don’t you just feel like a proud new parent? Our tree is now five years old and just starting to produce. I take the little lemons off for the first few years to give some of the larger ones a chance to really ripen and juice up.
Alison, that’s a good way to describe it! I didn’t know about removing the smaller lemons, but a lot of them fell off by themselves anyway…
Celia did you hold your breath just a little as you cut in to it?
*exhale* perfect lemon :-)
Brydie, it was an exciting moment! I was so glad it wasn’t all dry and brown inside! :)
While on the bus the other day I counted over a dozen full loaded lemon trees in people front yards. It had me thinking how many lemon trees there must be in Australia who’s fruit just falls to waste. And there are people like you and me hanging out for just one.
Jason, I walk past them too, and think the same thing! What citrus do you have planted in the garden?
Now that is a lemon to be proud of – it looks perfect. So envious of you being able to grow lemons. Having said that, the only outdoor lemon tree in the country grows here in Liskeard – or at least it did three years ago when we last saw it.
Now for rhubarb schnapps. I don’t have an exact recipe, but this is what I do – fill up a large jar with chopped rhubarb (about 1″ pieces), add granulated sugar to taste (depends how sweet you like your liqueurs – probably about 1/4 to 1/6th sugar) then fill with vodka. Leave for as long as you can – at least six months, but a year is better. Then strain, bottle and enjoy.
Hope that helps.
Choc, thank you for the recipe! If our rhubarb crowns ever recover (they’re really struggling at the moment), I’m going to make this. Since we made the plum liqueur, we’ve become quite hooked on fruit brandies! :)
Pete’s 1 lemon cordial sounds so good! I must make this!
I love the song too! ;)
It’s very easy too, Sophie! Glad you liked the song – it’s one I find myself humming often.. :)
I was equally as excited to pick the two limes from my tree earlier this year and made them into a lime and cardamon coridal, which, incidentally was delicious, especially with vodka and soda water. I think lemon and the subsequent lemon cordial is perfection. Glad you have more lemons coming on, I now only have flowers, so it will be a long while before I get to pick the next lime. And the lemon is even further behind.
Barbara, the citrus trees take ages to fruit, don’t they? We planted a quite advanced lemon tree, and it’s still taken years, so I keep looking at the little lime trees we’ve put in and think…must be patient, must be patient.. :)
What a perfect lemon Celia! Pete, fantastic cordial recipe too!
Thanks Lucy! :)