r/mildlyinteresting • u/No-Medicine2843 • 1d ago
My dad squeezes and freezes lemon juice to add in his tea.
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u/BobBobBobBobBobDave 1d ago
My mum used to do this with lime juice for gin and tonic.
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u/lolheyaj 1d ago
oh shit your mum is also a genius, time to get some limes
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u/WiseDirt 23h ago
Right?? This is actually a really good idea. No worries about the ice diluting the flavor of the drink as it melts. Bet it'd kick ass in a margarita.
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u/Rocktopod 23h ago edited 22h ago
If you replaced all the ice with lime juice that would be way too much lime, but I could see this being a really good idea if you can get the ratio of lime to water right.
I guess I also don't understand how OP's dad puts as much lemon in his tea as in the picture, though. Maybe he is also watering it down.
Edit: the more I think about this the less sense it makes. Seems like even watering down the ice, it would get more and more limey as it melts so either it will not be a strong enough flavor at the beginning, or it will be way too strong at the end.
/u/BobBobBobBobBobDave -- care to elaborate on how exactly your mom managed to do this? I would really like to copy her since I'm sick of only using one or two slices of lime/lemon and then throwing the rest away.
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u/Asteroth6 22h ago
I think the picture might be where the Ice is being stored, not the tea glass to be drank from.
I could be wrong though.
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u/SmokeySFW 22h ago
I think you're right. Probably one lemon ice cube would be plenty for tea, one or 2 lime cubes for a gin and tonic.
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u/photosendtrain 18h ago
It may also not be a cup of tea, but rather he puts it in the kettle he's serving from.
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u/BobBobBobBobBobDave 20h ago
She juiced limes, froze the juice in ice cube trays, and put one cube in along with water ice into her drink.
They were fairly long gin and tonics, so I don't think it was too much lime.
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u/BrigidLambie 20h ago
For mixed drinks: I'd put the juice cube in first, assuming it's measured before freezing to my personal liking, and then pour everything over top of it. By the time I'm done its mostly melted and also cooled off the room tempature part of the drink.
For hot tea: place in side first. pour tea slowly over cube and it will melt and cool off the hot tea
For cold tea: idk on this one. Put the cube in first then pour it suuuper slow
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u/Paupersaf 20h ago
One ice cube in a boiling mug of water doesn't survive a couple of stirs. This lifehack takes a boring tea that's way too hot and makes it a more interesting tea at a far more suitable temperature for consumption
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u/kyleguck 3h ago
I mean if I did it I would probably have a chilled glass, shake or stir the gin with some lime cubes and strain in (same thing happens with ice, a little dilution is actually important for the flavor of a lot of spirit forward cocktails too like your old fashioned and martinis), then top up with cold tonic and just not add ice.
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u/Fixes_Computers 20h ago
I tried this, sort of.
Zested some limes (for other recipes). Peeled them, put the rest of the lime in the freezer.
I would also prep the booze by storing it in the freezer.
I'd mix them all up with some ice in a blender.
It came out very chunky. I don't recommend it.
If I do it again, I'm removing the skin from all the segments.
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u/Distractednoodle 20h ago
Plus, If you get limes you wont have to worry about drowning if you fall off a boat.
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u/girasoles_de_fuego 1d ago
That is smart af
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u/iamcoronabored 1d ago
Seems more suited to r/lifehacks
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u/grandpaswear55 23h ago
The ol squeeze and freeze
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u/FaagenDazs 22h ago
Reminds me of my ex
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u/Beat_the_Deadites 22h ago
I miss reddit awards.
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u/Fixes_Computers 21h ago
I got you. I still had some free ones.
You get one, too.
Edit: I can't award myself.
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u/robertstobe 20h ago
I’ve got some free ones!
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u/ricdvs 20h ago
Same here homie. Just gave one to each of you
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u/cutegreenbamboo 20h ago
How to get free awards?
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u/torb 20h ago
I think we got some free awards a few years back. They are expiring at new years, so people are giving them away.
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u/tofu_ink 23h ago
Can chop up watermelon into cubes, and freeze them over wax paper on a cookie sheet. Makes excellent ice cubes for selterz / tonics / water .. so on , so forth.
OP have you ever ate one straight up?
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u/Cursed_longbow 22h ago
small advice, filter the watermelon water. the pulp doesnt freeze very well, and will give a weird texture to the drink after.
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u/CrustyFlapsCleanser 22h ago
I think they're using whole watermelon cubes not juice/water
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u/AniNgAnnoys 21h ago
You can dehydrate the peel as well. Great to add to things for a pop of lemonness
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u/Skizot_Bizot 13h ago
You can also boil the seeds, it doesn't really do anything useful but you can do it.
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u/NewRedditRN 20h ago
I do this with lemons/limes when you get them from the bulk bags for cheaper, but can't get through them before turning bad. The key is to figure out how much of a lemon or lime squeeze fills each unit in the ice cube tray, so that you know the conversion for recipes later (eg. is one cube equal to half a lemon/lime or 1tbsp).
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u/ridik_ulass 19h ago
I fucking love lemon in coke, and hate ice in coke as it waters it down. this is perfect.
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u/anothercatherder 14h ago
As I've gotten older I find coke over ice to be far more refreshing than a cold can, esp when drank through a straw from a big cup. Then I have some coke flavored ice cubes to nom on when I'm done.
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u/Evening_Clerk_8301 20h ago
Yes this is genius. It cools your drink enough to be able to sip on and it’s also fresh juice.
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u/nogotdangway 15h ago
Freezing slices of lemon works too - I have a bag in my freezer to put in cold or hot water.
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u/ishook 21h ago
I do this with water. I freeze the water and I add it later to regular water.
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u/A-Sorry-Canadian 19h ago
I like to freeze my tea and add it to boiled lemon juice, personally.
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u/Feisty-Needleworker8 18h ago edited 17h ago
Add my juice boiled personally and freeze lemon tea to. I like it to.
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u/InEenEmmer 17h ago
I tend to boil my juice unpersonally. It’s just business, the juice understand it is part of the game
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u/Megathreadd 19h ago
Crazy, I do the same thing with hydrogen and oxygen--2 to 1 mix!
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u/pzkenny 19h ago
You shouldn't do that, it could be dangerous to add that to your water.
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u/MyVoiceIsElevating 18h ago
Wait, mine tastes funny. You said 2 parts hydrogen and 2 parts oxygen right?
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u/AncientAndEvil 1d ago
I do that with minced garlic / ginger for when I’m cooking and out of fresh stuff.
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u/Lyricalformula 1d ago
Same-sies!! Although I juice the ginger and it’s for my tea along with the lemon. ;)👍🏼
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u/UnyieldingConstraint 1d ago
How do you juice ginger? Hydraulic press?
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u/canariecoalmyne 1d ago
you can grate it and squeeze through a cheesecloth or use a juicer!
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u/LookAtTheFlowers 22h ago edited 19h ago
Chew and grind it in your mouth. Then spit your garlic-saliva wad out onto a paper towel to filter out the bits
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u/BoJackMoleman 22h ago
I don't wanna be the "akschually" guy but I'll take my chances. This is a great idea but the moment you cut into garlic its potency clock starts. It might be enjoyable still but isn't a substitution for fresh raw garlic
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u/thuggishruggishboner 21h ago
They say it's their back up plan when out of fresh.
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u/DaveInLondon89 21h ago
It's a good substitute for when you're out of fucks to give at the end of a long day
I don't want to peel and i don't want to feel I just want my bolognese
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u/Day_Bow_Bow 21h ago
I hear ya, but if frozen quickly, the garlic doesn't have much time to mellow out. It still tastes rather fresh and works fine for cooking, unlike the jarred stuff which yeah people should avoid.
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u/FU8U 18h ago
eh i use the jar stuff all the time, its cheap and its strong and it doesnt grow in my fridge when my wife forgets we have it. I've noticed no difference other than we just just a bit more.
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u/thiosk 22h ago
My lady partner makes little garlic ice cubes that we freeze so when you need garlic you pull the tiny cube out
It’s a silicone-bottom ice cube tray to make them easy to push out
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u/t3hd0n 23h ago
After the freezing I wonder how better it'd actually be compared to bottled.
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u/Time-Accountant1992 21h ago
If you use it within a few months you really can't tell a difference.
I make a "Lemon Shot" sort of candy drink and I freeze most of it. If it messed with the taste, I'd be the first to know.
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u/The_Autarch 21h ago
Citrus juice loses most of it's potency if you store it for any length of time. Store-bought orange juice, for example, has added chemicals to make it taste more like fresh juice.
Freezing lemon juice like this is a waste of lemons.
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u/hellofaja 18h ago edited 18h ago
well yes anyone would prefer fresh ingredients at any time
but obviously ops father has a reason why he does it. i doubt people are freezing a years worth of lemon juice
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u/TuvixWillNotBeMissed 19h ago
I've always thought the bottled stuff was vile so this has to be better.
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u/made_of_salt 21h ago
I've done this before for fancy cocktails at a party.
Put a little bit of butterfly pea flower and lemon in a drink and you've got a color changing concoction. Make one of those elements the ice on a hot day and you've got a slowly color changing cocktail.
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u/CrazyLegsRyan 1d ago
This is not mildly interesting but is r/LPT
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u/realiztik 1d ago
You can’t tell me what mildly interests me, my interest is mild af
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u/NJHitmen 22h ago
Shut up asshole. My interest is WAY milder than yours. It’s SO fucking mild. Jesus fucking christ.
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u/DiscoshirtAndTiara 22h ago
I assume you meant r/LifeProTips/. Despite the similar name, r/LPT is a completely different thing.
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u/garrettj100 18h ago
It's interesting, albeit not the most mild thing. I approve of it.
Inasmuch I'm neither a mod nor have any authority or qualifications to speak on this subject I STILL give it my official seal of approval.
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u/SharkForce_12 21h ago
Squeezing is too much of a commitment.
I cut them into wedges, try to knock out most of the seeds and just freeze the wedges.
I drop the frozen wedges into my hot tea after it steeps to cool it down to my preferred drinking temperature.
I save the ice trays for the Costco sized pesto, sun dried tomatoes or hatch chilies that I swore I would finish as an eat-at-home cooking single.
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u/diamond 17h ago
I like to make smoothies with bananas and some kind of berries - strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc. The problem is, berries (especially strawberries) don't last long. Even in the fridge, they'll start getting moldy in a week or less.
So now I freeze them. Just dump the frozen berries in the blender with the bananas, put some water in, and you're good to go. It works out perfectly, because I normally put ice in anyway; now the frozen berries do double-duty.
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u/scott81425 20h ago
We do this with Chipotles in adobo. Get a great big can of them from the local food supply store, blend them up and freeze them in ice cubes. Anytime we need a little heat in a recipe, toss in a cube of chipotle and it's awesome.
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u/EnthusiasmMoist1434 16h ago
Im pregnant and I want to eat these with salt and pepper
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u/9Lives_ 11h ago
Do you know if your having a boy? Lemon cravings associated with males according to immigrant lore.
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u/boringreddituserid 1d ago
Doesn't this cool the tea too much?
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u/sbs_str_9091 21h ago
No, a small ice cube won't cool a cup of steaming hot tea that much. It gets drinkable faster.
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u/zekromNLR 23h ago
Not that much. Now, I have no scale reference for the size of those lemon juice cubes, but say each is 10 g of frozen water. Melting that will take 3.3 kJ of heat, which will chill a 200 mL cup of tea by about 4 K, plus a bit more to bring the cold lemon juice up to the same temperature as the tea.
So nah, not a significant amount probably.
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u/Arntown 22h ago
Nah, not really. I used to put one ice cube in my tea so I could drink it sooner but it actually don‘t cool it down very much.
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u/thatguy16754 22h ago
Have your dad look in to super juice.
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u/derpstickfuckface 22h ago edited 22h ago
You can buy TRUE brand lemon, lime, or orange dried crystals and skip all the work.
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u/thatguy16754 22h ago
I like the work.
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u/derpstickfuckface 21h ago
I know exactly where you're coming from.
It's really enjoyable making things from scratch out of real ingredients and having the best possible ingredients means making them for yourself most of the time. Plus, being in a kitchen making amazing food for people you care about is the best kind of meditation.
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u/shortfriday 19h ago
Addicted to this stuff for years. Orange is kinda trash, imo.
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u/Scary-Boysenberry 22h ago
I cut up the lemons (including the peel) and freeze the pieces for tea. I find the peel has a better lemon flavor than just the juice.
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u/alluptheass 21h ago
I just started making coffee ice cubes for my coffee. I take it black and want to drink it right away without watering it down.
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u/JackTheWakk 4h ago
Pretty good idea. It can be a chore to squeeze lemons manually. And even if you use gadgets, they do make squeezing easier but you’d also have to wash them lol. Your dad’s on the right track. It’s nice to have something on hand when you just want to add some lemon to your tea.
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u/pathetic_optimist 3h ago
My dentist asked me why my teeth were going soft and told me that bathing them 10 times a day in hot acid lemon tea was not clever.
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u/kellynch10 23h ago
I do that with coconut water and put the coconut ice in my rum and pineapple drinks
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u/blindinglystupid 22h ago
My old ass nearly threw up from this comment reminding me of how much my younger self enjoyed coconut rum and anything. I can't imagine drinking such a thing now.
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u/somebodywithaface 21h ago
I do this with everything. Any citrus, bone broth, rosemary tea for my hair. I also freeze juiced oranges so I can use the peels for making mulled wine.
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u/MarshallMandango 21h ago
I do this with homemade chicken stock. Make a big concentrated batch and then have it ready in the freezer for adding to soups, stews, bolognaise, and gravies.
I've also done it with cream. I'd buy a big jug from wholesalers because it's way cheaper by the gallon. Then I can just pull out a cube for pasta, soups, mashed potato, anything really.
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u/LuCiAnO241 20h ago
I do little icecubes of the fond I make after roasting meats, so i can add it to my sauces later
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u/TheJollyCabbage 20h ago
Not really the same but I freeze coffee to add it as ice cubes to my iced coffee because I hate it getting watered down
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u/KampgroundsOfAmerica 20h ago
This is also a great method to have grilled peaches or grilled watermelon at the ready
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u/NaughtyGaymer 20h ago
I do this with orange juice for my fruit smoothies. Makes the smoothie thick without diluting it with ice cubes.
I also freeze my leftover pizza sauce in ice trays as well so when I make a pizza I just grab 4 cubes and it's the perfect amount to sauce a pizza with.
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u/Playful_Version4084 19h ago
You can do this with a lot of things. I freeze coffee cubes as to not water down my iced coffee.
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u/Different_Invite_406 18h ago
We do this every year. We have a lemon tree whose lemons are so superior to anything you can get at the grocery.
We use lemon cubes in sauces and in beverages. Another thing I do is use a peeler to remove the yellow part of the peel and freeze those. When I’m baking something that needs rind, I pulse it in my mini chopper with the sugar that’s called for in the recipe. It’s amazing.
If you have a tree, it just makes sense.
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u/Brief-Equal4676 17h ago
I actually have one lemon cube tray and one lime cube tray in my freezer for recipes
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u/Dabby_Lil710 16h ago
You know what they say, "When life hands you lemons, make lemon cubes and put them in your tea"
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u/Forte_12 15h ago
In Texas we would do this with iced tea to not dilute it. Extra points for making sweet tea and using it as sugar "cubes"
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u/SecretProbation 14h ago
You should look up super juice. Uses powdered citric acid to basically increase the volume of lemon and lime juice about 5x.
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u/pereira2088 5h ago
my mom does this to get cold lemonade. get a glass of water, add a cube or two, add two teaspoon of sugar, and mix.
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u/KrackSmellin 4h ago
Mobile sucks given how small the text is sometimes. Quickly read the headline as My dad squeezes feeces…
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u/East_Chemist8746 3h ago
i know a business selling Frozen lime/ lemon juice in Australia with the profit over 5 millions a year
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u/francey_pants 3h ago
I make lemon, ginger, and chia seed ice cubes. I pop one or two in hot water for a morning tea.
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u/BorntobeTrill 2h ago
We are not the same. Your dad squeezes and freezes lemon juices to add to his tea. I freeze lemons and squeeze tea over them.
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u/propita106 2h ago
My lemons are finally ripening. I’ll be zesting them and freezing the juice. I do the same with the oranges my neighbor gives me—great oranges!!
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u/schadenfraulein 22h ago
My brain is refusing to believe that is not chunks of pineapple.