A little lemon added to your food goes a long way. Lemons are anti-microbial, helping to rid your food of unfriendly bacteria. They help you to digest your meal and also add a little extra flavor. Next time you are eating fish or Mexican food in a restaurant, pick up that lemon wedge garnish and squeeze it! 

At home squeeze fresh lemon into salad dressings, sauces and add it to your rice or soup just before eating it. Cook thinly sliced pieces of lemon with fish and then you can eat the lemon with the fish. If you make bone marrow soups, adding lemon helps to pull the calcium and minerals out of the bones into the broth. Traditionally bone marrow broths are eaten as an overall vitality tonic partially because of all the minerals you get from the bones.

Lemons contain most vitamins and minerals and have high amounts of vitamins A, B and C. In fact, lemons are loaded with vitamin C and were used by British sailors to prevent scurvy. It is always helpful to have extra vitamin C during the cold and flu season. Vitamin C also helps the body to deal with the damaging effects of stress. Squeeze away!

Lemon tea is a very simple remedy that can help relieve a nagging headache. Warm lemon tea first thing in the morning can help to get your bowels moving. We drink lemon tea in the evening if we have been around sick people or if we feel a little run down. If my husband feels a tickle in the back of his throat he reaches for a cup of lemon tea. Don’t drink fresh lemon juice every day though because it can adversely affect your teeth enamel.

Making fresh lemonade is not just for summer, we make herbal lemonade for any party or gathering that happens here. I am giving you a yummy herbal lemonade recipe that we make for our Winter Solstice sing-along where we join in the ancient tradition of singing back the light on the longest night of the year.

Herbal Lemonade

• 2 cups herbal tea (lavender, lemon verbena, rosemary and rose geranium are good choices)
• 1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

Add honey to taste (different lemon varieties need different amounts of honey).

Lemon Tea

• 1 cup warm water
• 2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

Drink warm.

Bone Marrow Broth

• 8 cups water
• 3 chicken legs (whole legs including the thigh
• Juice from one lemon
• 3 cloves garlic

Cut the chicken leg bones in half so that the bone marrow is exposed. Put everything into the water and simmer on low for four to six hours. Then strain the meat and bones from the broth and discard everything that was cooking in the broth. You now have a highly medicinal broth that builds your immune system and replenishes your minerals. This is the best food for when you are sick or recovering from an illness. Drink a couple cups of warmed broth a day or use it as your stock for making soup.

Lemon Cough Syrup 

• 1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup honey
• 2 crushed garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger

Mix ingredients together and store in refrigerator. Shake well before taking one tablespoon up to four times a day for the onset of cold symptoms. Stores in the fridge for about one week. Discard after that.

About the Gardener

Farm Fresh To You presents the Herb Garden by Kami McBride.  Farm Fresh To You provides delivery of organic, seasonal fruits, vegetables and greens right to your door. Every week the Farm Fresh to You family farm, Capay Organic, puts together a box of seasonal fruits, vegetables, and greens and delivers the box directly to your home.