Katie Herring from Cultivate waxes lyrical about lemons

NUTELLA, cheese and leek, golden syrup, and spiced apple – just a handful of the filling suggestions I got from customers last week when we were discussing pancake day. But despite the hundreds of options, I always return to the simple sugar and lemon combo.

This year I took the opportunity to use some of the organic lemons we stock at Cultivate.

Our lemons come from an organic growers co-op in Sicily and are shipped, rather then flown, over to the UK.

In order to retain their organic status these lemons come to us unwaxed.

There are various different waxes used to coat citrus, some based on polyethylene – a type of plastic – and some on shellac or beeswax.

They are used for a variety of reasons: to protect the fruit in transit, make it look shiny, help it retain moisture and extend shelf-life.

Currently none of these coatings meet organic standards so although unwaxed lemons may not always being organic, organic lemons will always be unwaxed.

It’s best to keep organic lemons in the fridge if you aren’t using them within a couple of days of purchase, or you can even freeze them and they’ll last a month or so – although I’ve heard that lemons that are slightly above room temperature juice better.

If you really want to maximise your juice output you can try rolling them along the kitchen surface while applying a little pressure with the palm of your hand.

Just make sure you do this before you slice them in half.

Some of you may be wondering, when you can buy a little plastic bottle full of lemon juice, why you should go to all this effort just to enjoy some pancakes.

Simply put, fresh lemon juice has a flavour that’s unmatched by it’s bottled counterpart.

Bottled juice is normally from concentrate, will contain additives and, if you read my column last week, you’ll know why I’m not a huge fan of plastic packaging.

It’s also recently been discovered that citrus scents can help boost the mood balancing chemical serotonin.

Give it a go and I'm sure you’ll find juicing your own lemons far from a bitter experience.