If you are lucky, you learn something new every day. I’ve learned how to keep lemons fresh for a really, really long time.

I was talking with a friend about Easter ham (which I don’t eat), and she shared her favorite Passover dish, charoset. It’s a yummy mix of apples, walnuts (or pecans if you are southern) and red wine.

She makes it from memory, so she looked in her family recipe book for a charoset recipe for me. It called for 3 tablespoons of red wine. Oh, honey, that’s not nearly enough wine, she said. Just keep adding until everything is coated and marinating.

This charoset recipe calls for fresh lemon zest, and that’s where my favorite new tip comes in for how to keep lemons fresh.

How to Keep Lemons Fresh

Store them submerged in water in the refrigerator, and your lemons will stay fresh for weeks, even months. I re-use the bins our lunchmeat comes in, which stores three lemons at a time and seals tightly.

I bought these four lemons at the same time, and they are at least a month old. The one on the right stayed in the refrigerator produce drawer and now is small and wrinkled, but the ones stored in water are still fresh and plump. Lemons dry out in the fridge after just a couple of weeks, but storing them in water keeps them hydrated, inside and out.

More to the point, there’s even still enough rind for zesting for the charoset.

How was the charoset? I don’t have anything to compare it to, but I thought it was a filling snack and a satisfying meal finish. It’s firm but not crunchy, easy enough to make, and low-sugar but still sweet.  Have you had it? Is this comfort food for you?

By the way, I tried this hydration trick with a small batch of limes, and for some reason it didn’t work as well. The limes slimed up a little, but I may give it another go.

Remember, lemons are also super stain fighters. Use lemons to fight stains and clean pennies. You may not care about clean pennies, but it’s an amazing way to keep toddlers busy!

Do you keep your lemons fresh by keeping them in a bath in the fridge? If you do, what do you store yours in?