Lemons Herald Spring like Brass Trumpets
29 March 2008 by Jean Johnson
It’s a yellow, trumpeting time of year. From daffodils to the very excellent pastel backdrop the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer features these days. It’s all about yellow and light and life itself.
Spring is also the last hurrah for winter citrus. It was as if Mother Nature knew we’d need just a few more oranges and lemons and limes rolling around to manage while April truly comes into its showy ownsome.
In my kitchen right now, lemons get squeezed over apples on breakfast cereal, warm salads of spaghetti squash and greens, and into all manner of soups. A seemingly small trick, but one that yields famously lovely rewards. Indeed, the beauty of working with fresh lemons is that all they take is a crosswise cut and a squeeze. It’s a matter of seconds, really, and separating out the few seeds that you’ll find is a done deal in short order.
Lemons. They’re like fresh parsley. A touch that ratchets flavors right up over the bar. Use a few drops to perk things up in the background or squeeze a whole luscious half over your cereal. It will be a spring to remember when you invite bright yellow lemons all brassy and trumpeting into your kitchen.
