How to Manage June Drop, and Your Kids, One Lemon Recipe at a Time

By: Lauran Bell

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Change is in the air, and the lemons are on the ground. Not just one or two lemons but almost all the lemons. It’s called June drop, and it happens with our lemon tree in San Jose, California (zone 9B), every year. The phenomenon of June drop symbolizes to me what it feels like during the massive shift from having your kid or kids in school for about six hours every weekday to having them home 24/7 – all summer long.

Let me break down the analogy between June drop and your kids getting out for summer break. You’ve been able to enjoy each lemon a little at a time, one recipe at a time, paced out in a reasonable way (like seeing your kid during the most important parts of the day, not All day.) All of a sudden, the change happens, (school’s out for the summer), and all of the lemons need to be dealt with now, all day long. (No matter how much you adore your children, all day long is all day long.)

But don’t worry, our family has some tasty lemon recipes to help with June drop, while at the same time keeping the kids busy over summer break.

June Drop: All of Those Extra Lemons

Whereas before you could leisurely look through your cookbook recipes, a few lemons to handle at a time, now you have to figure out what to make fast because the multitude of lemons that have dropped will rot if they don’t get attention. (What your kids want you to believe about them.)

 Ironically, June drop with citrus trees occurs when the tree needs to regain balance. The fruits on the tree use carbohydrates and since all the lemons on the tree are competing for these carbohydrates, only the strongest survive. The rest drop. This may reduce the tree’s stress and workload, but it will not reduce yours. 

 So what to do with all of those extra lemons, not to mention the extra time you have with your kids?  We have four standout lemon recipes (with a number of variations) that my husband initially came up with and that we’ve both adjusted through trial and error.

If your kids are home for the summer, definitely include them when making your lemony creations.

Lemons: Hot, Cold, Sweet, or Spicy

My husband especially loves the strong flavor of lemon. The tea recipes, which can also be used to make slushies, come initially from his experiments. He has merged both sweet, sour, and spicy flavors in all four recipes, using honey to sweeten up the pungent flavor of lemon. In all of the recipes below, he also boldly uses lemon rind, which is full of vitamins and minerals, and keeps the lemon pith (the white part), which is full of Vitamin C and fiber.

His approach to making the beverages below is extremely casual. He doesn’t actually measure anything. He uses the ingredients on the recipe lists and basically throws them all in the blender, tastes, and adds a little of this and a little more of that. He thinks it’s too fussy to “roughly chop” or pour ingredients into measuring spoons. You could use his approach if step-by-step instructions gives you heartburn. If you like things a bit more structured, like I do, however, you’ll find all of the particulars in the lemon recipes below. Together, we make the “perfect” chef.

If your kids are younger, they, in particular, can learn a lot from exploring how when you add more of one ingredient, the drink goes from sweet to spicy. The same ingredients can taste wildly different when changed from hot to cold. Play with textures by changing the hot frothy tea into a slushy in an ice cream maker. The transformation is truly fun to watch, no matter what your age.

When Life Gives You Lemons

The seasonal cycles we go through as a family with school-aged kids, like the process of June drop, can be both startling, overwhelming, surprising, exciting, and delightful. Instead of fighting change, it is much more fun to get creative with your kids and make “lemonade out of lemons,” as my mom would say. I hope you and your kids will have a great start to summer fun while exploring the lemon recipes below.

Bonus: the recipes are healthy (but they won’t notice). Each recipe also has minimal ingredients and light cleanup.

Whether you want hot or cold, sweet or spicy, we’ve got you and your family covered with plenty of options: lemon froth tea (sweet or spicy) and lemon slushy (sweet or spicy). Have your kids “choose their own adventure” with the different recipes and variations below.

(See the Food Forward Family activities at the bottom of the page.)

Want to put these lemon recipes to use with your kids? See the Food Forward Family Activities below.

Food Forward Family Activities: Lemons

Food Forward Family Activity, ideal for kids ages 3-7 (Difficulty level= easy) *Fruit trees can help teach kids about differences.

1.Find some fruit trees in your backyard, neighborhood, community, or local nursery.

2. Ask your children to look at the size, shape, and color of each fruit on the tree.

3. Have them notice that just like people, not all of the fruits are the same. Explain that differences are normal and part of life. They make people – and fruit trees- unique and interesting.

4. You can share that as individuals we are all special, but just like the fruit on the tree, when all of the differences come together, like all of us in the community, we are even more beautiful and interesting.

1. Make one of the hot tea recipes above: Lemon Froth Tea or Spicy Lemon Ginger Froth Tea. This is drink #1 for Dad’s breakfast.

2. Save the extra liquid and pour it into a container that you can put in the fridge to cool. Poor it over ice, and this will be drink #2 for Dad’s lunch. You can garnish it with mint or basil. Save the remainder.

3. Pour what is left into an ice cream maker, and run it for about 20 minutes. This is Dad’s dessert slushy, the third treat in the trio. Pour it into a nice glass, and garnish with mint, basil, or something of your choice. He’ll be impressed and will feel extra special!

Food Forward Family Activity: Taster vs Chef Game (Difficulty= Medium) You need at least 2 people. The chef should be able to follow a recipe with limited support in the kitchen. The taster can be any age.

1. Pick any of the four lemon recipes above. Decide who will be the chef/chefs and who will be the taster. (The chef/s will be busy in the kitchen, so give this role to your kids as much as possible.)

2. For the first batch, follow one of the recipes exactly as it is, verbatim. Put your liquid creation aside. (If you make a slushy, keep it in the ice cream maker or put it in a container in the freezer, so it stays cool. The hot tea may also need a quick blend right before serving at a later time.)

3. The chef should now make the exact same recipe again, but this time taste it and decide to add a little more of one or more of the ingredients already on the list. The chef should decide to make it sweeter, spicier, more sour. Feeling extra creative? Add something entirely new to the recipe. Write it down. When you have tasted your creation and feel it is complete, come up with a name for it. Write this down as well.

4. Have the taster try the recipes (the one that was followed exactly and the chef’s creation.) Have the taster decide which creation followed the online recipe and which one was self-created. Which one does the taster like more?

5. Congratulate yourself either way for a job well done!

How did the activities and recipes go? I’d love to hear your feedback. Feel free to reply and comment below.