My brother sent me an email yesterday taunting me with a picture of all the avocados he harvested from his tree in their backyard. So far they have picked 22 avocados with at least as many more still on the tree. Did I mention that he lives in San Diago? I'm hoping they'll freeze the leftovers so the next time we're visiting we can try them.
To make matters even more tortuous, he also has a lemon tree. All the better for helping preserve the avocados with the lemon juice!For those of you down south lucky enough to have a productive avocado tree, don't let your surplus go to waste. You can preserve the flesh easily by pureeing it and adding one tablespoon of lemon juice per two avocados. It will last in the freezer for at least 5 months, probably longer if you remove all the air first.
11 comments:
We live in Portland, Oregon, and we have a potted Improved Meyer Lemon tree (looks like the one in your picture) which lives about one-half the year outdoors, and one-half indoors. It makes a lot of lemons (they are just finishing ripening now). Care is minimal -- a little organic fertilizer, plenty of water, some pruning (so that we can carry it inside). My wife pretends she's a bee and pollinates the flowers when the tree is still indoors. Lemon flowers smell wonderful!
For juiciness, Meyer lemons are superior to regular lemons. Although, they are thinner skinned and so don't provide near as much lemon zest. They are part orange and have a definite orange component to their flavor.
I saw on a Food network show, that Avocados are one of the rare fruits that will not ripen on the tree. They don't ripen until their off the tree. Avocado farmers regularly leave the fruit on the tree until they need it to fill orders. I'd tell him to check into it, but he may be able to prolong his harvest by letting the tree do the work.
But I like the idea of him sending some your way too!
P~
Oh, just seeing that picture is torture. Maybe I'll try to grow my own tree inside... I can't live without avocados and routinely pay much too much for them and feel guilty for all the fuel used to truck them to me. But I eat them anyway...
O.M.G. This post was just a tease, just a tease.
I work at a food co-op in Minnesota. We regularly have to discard lots and lots of past-their-prime avocados. I don't buy them anymore, but I do take home some of these from the free staff bin. I'm not sure how I feel about this, but I rationalize by saying it's better than having them feed the pigs who benefit from the co-op compost buckets...
I live in Northern California, and have an awesome meyer lemon tree. I made lemon soup last night! (Recipe is on my blog, for those of you lucky enough to have lemon trees ; ).
Supposedly citrus isn't supposed to survive & thrive this far north, but the tree is against the house on a southwest facing wall. The wall holds the heat far into the evening, and seems to be just enough for the tree to do very well. Today I'm making marmalade.
Alan, "my wife pretends to be a bee" - LOL! I wonder if your tree produces thinner-skinned lemons because they are indoors? Mine are very similar in thickness to a regular lemon. But boy are they sweeter and juicier.
Thanks sis! We love our avocado tree! This season we had at least double the normal amount.
Here are a few more pics:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2101/2197459037_2fd99eb917.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2325/2198246682_b1df5bec55.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2164/2197458385_0ca568fd9a.jpg
and our limes too:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2126/2197460725_f9fbdb543b.jpg
Waaa! Now I want guacamole!
I am looking to buy a meyer lemon tree. I can't find a source here in the U.S.
Can someone recommend a web site/catalog please? I am desperate.
Thx.
VML
I'm suddenly craving guacomole. Darn it!
oh yeh, i freeze my avocados all the time. i started doing it for the baby who adores eating them and found out that they freeze just fine, even without the lemon juice.
we are looking into planting a tree soon!
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