There are 4 supermarkets around the corner from the house, HEB, Kroger, Aldi and Food Town. Used to shop Kroger, but they screwed me for the last time a few years ago. Shop Aldi once, and quality sucked. Food Town is even worse. So, only HEB is left. Small lemons were 3 for a dollar just days ago, just like they have been for a long time.. Today, 58 cents each. What gives? We do use a lot of lemons and typically buy 15 each time.

Don't know for sure but have read about a citrus greening disease hitting Florida really hard. Lots of bad weather this winter too farter south but not sure if that has affected citrus crops. OJ is getting crazy expensive around here.

https://news.wfsu.org/state-ne...idas-citrus-industry

Reminds me of Vince Vaughn and Maniston going at it over the lemons.

https://youtu.be/xj7sYdMEKec?si=ULwqkCeB7rcOcCWh

Any Costco's nearby? I've had really good luck with their bags of lemons, though I can't recall the most recent unit price. Most of the bulk bags of fruit, onions, etc. at typical grocery stores are around half shit. I usually prefer to individually select my own produce, but Costco is an exception for me.

I buy a lot of lemons for tea. Aldi's usually has good lemons and I put them in a freezer bag so they won't dry out.

When buying single lemons, check the weight since they may be dried out and have little juice.

Since individual lemons are different sizes, what do I compare the weight to? I typically do the squeeze test. If it feels too hard, I move on.

You could use the scale they have in most grocery stores. A cup of water weights 8 ounces which would be the size of a very large lemon.

What gets me are the seeds. Some lemons have very few or none at times. When some lemons have lots of seeds, out comes the strainer.

Florida has had a really bad year for citrus between bad weather and disease. I know orange juice prices are absolutely batshit crazy right now, and I refuse to buy it plus it’s really not that great for you.

They are probably forced to bring lemons in from South America or some other areas and they are more expensive.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
Today, 58 cents each. What gives?

Lemon tree wasting disease. It has forced growers to cut thousands of Lemon trees over the last few years.
There are reports of the disease spreading to humans. It's a real problem. Look it up.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
and I refuse to buy it plus it’s really not that great for you.

It's close to 8 dollars for less than a gallon. Yes, they made the gallon jugs smaller. Bastards!

One of the great perks of living in the central valley of CA is citrus. It goes extremely well. I can't throw a rock without hitting a lemon or orange tree. This past year I've taken up canning and a couple weeks ago with virtually no effort I collected enough oranges to fill 60 gallons worth of home depot buckets. We now have about 40 quarts of orange juice in pantry. I could literally do as much as I want, filling as many jars as I care to purchase.

Same for lemons. Bonus points? Some of the lemon trees around here put out ear round. My sister's tree will have fresh lemons all year long.

Sorry for your citrus troubles!!

When I lived in Santa Barbara in the mid 70's, there was an orange grove north of Goleta.
You picked your own and the owner had a scale where you paid per pound.

I buy oranges on sale at Aldi's and make my own juice.