All thanks to the shrub grown by my neighbours that I get to sip a glass of fresh lime daily. The shrub thankfully sheds about 6-7 of its fruits on my compound everyday. So, I am into making optimum utilization of the healthy opportunity.
My first attempt started with the old school method of dissolving sugar granules in a glass of water with the help of a spoon. Then adding a pinch of salt and lemon juice squeezed out with the help of a convenient lemon squeezer. Again mixing it all with the spoon and rounding it up with 2 cubes of ice.
Gradually I moved on to dissolving the sugar without the expenditure on my muscles. I simply kept the glass with sugar and a little water in the microwave for a minute. It was remarkable to see the sugar being vanished into the water because of the micro waves.
If that was not enough of an adventure, I moved on to introducing few micro waves to the lemon also. I thought may be more juice could be extracted that way. Sadly, I had not anticipated that the heat caused the lime skin to expand and burst, squeezing out the juice all over to the walls of the microwave box. It then pounded on to me that there was no point in doing that "saving and more extraction exercise" just to lead to a better ROI from the lemon. I as it is had so many lemons with me, even after gifting so many to my friends; also the heat exposure could also have lead to destruction of the heat labile vitamin C in the fruit.
So from next day it was just the water and sugar and the glass that were micro waved.
The fresh lime was tasting fine, but within a few days came a twist to the story. I started noticing that my monthly consumption of sugar had increased. The jar that contained sugar would end up finishing a week before its intended day of getting empty completely. It did make me think that I was being drifted from my motive of being healthy. Though I was drinking fresh lime everyday with the sole intention to inculcate a healthy habit into my routine, but the added sugar consumption was defeating my entire goody goody attempt. So from the next day I moved on to replacing sugar with a spoonful of honey. And being honest, it brought in a wonderful taste to the drink.
Few days passed that way, and then I moved on to a much cooler experience. I started freezing the lemons in an ice tray!!!! In fact I actually started freezing the extracted lime juice. So, there was exactly the juice of 10 fresh lemons frozen into an ice tray. So, I just had to pour a spoon of honey into a glass, then some cold water into the glass, rotate the glass for a few times with my hand for the honey to dissolve and then drop an ice cube into it. It was that simple. So as the ice keeps melting, my drink would become more cool and tangier. So gradually the taste would keep on getting better. Each subsequent sip would bring on a refreshing taste to my palette and a smile of satisfaction to my face.
If you thought that was the end of the story, then you need to hear more.
The healthy habit became so well a part of me that I thought of adding more dimensions to it. I knew that the season of getting refreshing lemons would not last long. Also I was not an expert in converting them into a long lasting pickle, the way my mom or grand mom would have done to preserve them for long. Do not worry, I did not ever think of selling them to a vegetable seller. Though they would have been really thankful to me for giving them a better produce as compared to their small sized limp ones. Of course mine were devoid of any fertilizers or pesticides, pure organic you see. So, in order to come up with a plan to make optimum use of them, I banished the daily 2 cups of tea from my diet. I moved on to fresh herbal tea. The pure aroma of herbal tea infused with little ginger, honey and juice of a fresh lemon, nothing could have been more divine.
3 months of the fruit bearing lemon shrub lasted, and I made full use of it. I was so drenched on living the experience that I had missed out on watching the changes on my body. It was thrust upon me when I landed up at a friend’s anniversary get-together. Everyone was complimenting on my fresh and bright skin. No one believed me and called me a bitch when I told them that it was not any new skin renewal cream that I was exposed to…
My first attempt started with the old school method of dissolving sugar granules in a glass of water with the help of a spoon. Then adding a pinch of salt and lemon juice squeezed out with the help of a convenient lemon squeezer. Again mixing it all with the spoon and rounding it up with 2 cubes of ice.
Gradually I moved on to dissolving the sugar without the expenditure on my muscles. I simply kept the glass with sugar and a little water in the microwave for a minute. It was remarkable to see the sugar being vanished into the water because of the micro waves.
If that was not enough of an adventure, I moved on to introducing few micro waves to the lemon also. I thought may be more juice could be extracted that way. Sadly, I had not anticipated that the heat caused the lime skin to expand and burst, squeezing out the juice all over to the walls of the microwave box. It then pounded on to me that there was no point in doing that "saving and more extraction exercise" just to lead to a better ROI from the lemon. I as it is had so many lemons with me, even after gifting so many to my friends; also the heat exposure could also have lead to destruction of the heat labile vitamin C in the fruit.
So from next day it was just the water and sugar and the glass that were micro waved.
The fresh lime was tasting fine, but within a few days came a twist to the story. I started noticing that my monthly consumption of sugar had increased. The jar that contained sugar would end up finishing a week before its intended day of getting empty completely. It did make me think that I was being drifted from my motive of being healthy. Though I was drinking fresh lime everyday with the sole intention to inculcate a healthy habit into my routine, but the added sugar consumption was defeating my entire goody goody attempt. So from the next day I moved on to replacing sugar with a spoonful of honey. And being honest, it brought in a wonderful taste to the drink.
Few days passed that way, and then I moved on to a much cooler experience. I started freezing the lemons in an ice tray!!!! In fact I actually started freezing the extracted lime juice. So, there was exactly the juice of 10 fresh lemons frozen into an ice tray. So, I just had to pour a spoon of honey into a glass, then some cold water into the glass, rotate the glass for a few times with my hand for the honey to dissolve and then drop an ice cube into it. It was that simple. So as the ice keeps melting, my drink would become more cool and tangier. So gradually the taste would keep on getting better. Each subsequent sip would bring on a refreshing taste to my palette and a smile of satisfaction to my face.
If you thought that was the end of the story, then you need to hear more.
The healthy habit became so well a part of me that I thought of adding more dimensions to it. I knew that the season of getting refreshing lemons would not last long. Also I was not an expert in converting them into a long lasting pickle, the way my mom or grand mom would have done to preserve them for long. Do not worry, I did not ever think of selling them to a vegetable seller. Though they would have been really thankful to me for giving them a better produce as compared to their small sized limp ones. Of course mine were devoid of any fertilizers or pesticides, pure organic you see. So, in order to come up with a plan to make optimum use of them, I banished the daily 2 cups of tea from my diet. I moved on to fresh herbal tea. The pure aroma of herbal tea infused with little ginger, honey and juice of a fresh lemon, nothing could have been more divine.
3 months of the fruit bearing lemon shrub lasted, and I made full use of it. I was so drenched on living the experience that I had missed out on watching the changes on my body. It was thrust upon me when I landed up at a friend’s anniversary get-together. Everyone was complimenting on my fresh and bright skin. No one believed me and called me a bitch when I told them that it was not any new skin renewal cream that I was exposed to…
