Do you all know that lemons are the ‘secrete’ ingredient of summer? Well, if not then this article is surely for you. Just read on to know more about lemons and some of the foods made from them.

Adding lemon juice or zest to a dish, sweet or savoury, changes its whole flavour profile. Suddenly, a pretty good tomato sauce is brimming with complexity, a blackberry pie tastes like it’s packed with a thousand perfect berries and all of summer-it’s the best part of the meal.

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During summers lemons are inexpensive, easy to find, consistent in quality and hard to use incorrectly. Picking good lemons isn’t hard: They should be bright yellow in colour, firm to the touch, smooth and heavier than you might expect considering their size.

You can use lemons in a number of ways during summertime. Squeeze it into soups, sauces and drinks. Toss it with salads, vegetables and pasta. Rub it onto pork, chicken and fish. Bake it into cakes, muffins and snacks. And add it to anything and everything containing mayonnaise, it will surely ass taste to your food.

Here are some of the dishes made from lemons 

Bengali Lebu Cha 

A rather great proverb says that if life gives you too many lemons make lemonade out of it. Bengalis just improvised it by making cha. it is a variant of tea, which is brewed with leaves and had with a splash of lime juice once you have poured your cup, with a dash of salt.

Nutrient wise, the limbu-namak combination has a lot to offer—the ions of sodium and hydrogen are simple receptors of the salty and sour taste respectively—which gets a quick reception by the brain, so you’ll get energised faster. Besides, there is a tonne of antioxidants in this beverage—so much that even an athlete can use this drink for recovery and free radical neutralisation.

Lemon Pickle

Oh, how versatile the humble lemon is, lending itself as beautifully to pickling candying, seasoning as to a variety of other uses. Interestingly, most restaurants down South serve Lemon Pickle along with the ‘meals’, as the lemon is easy to procure and pickle, as well as liked by almost everybody.

Sindhi Tidali Dal 

The amalgamation of three types of dals, onions and tomatoes, a sizzly tadka and delicate nutrients from coriander at the end is finally followed by the game-changer: lime juice. Lime, when added at the end, brightens the flavours. But if added earlier on, the citric acid can prevent the dals from tenderising and leaving it raw from the inside, and it would also lose its Vitamin C. The vitamin also helps break down the amino acids (proteins) and iron of the three dals and coriander into a form that is easier for the body to use rapidly.

Lemon Rice 

The lemon rice recipe is a popular South Indian rice. which has a nice sour lemon taste. This is an easy and quick lemon rice recipe made with basic ingredients like lemon juice, boiled rice and Indian spices. Popular South Indian breakfast often also called chitranna rice is made with leftover rice.

Lemon rosemary chicken

It is simply an amazing dish to have on weekends. The rosemary adds an amazing taste to chicken when added and the smell will surely leave your mouth watering.