How long do lemons last

Keep a whole lemon on the counter, out of direct sun, or move it to the fridge. FoodKeeper prints the counter as 10 days and the fridge as 10–21 days. The bold number is ten days. The printed line is the citrus group, not a lemon-only figure. This page does not paste a separate day onto a lime. The freezer cell is No time is printed for this cell. No month is written there. The counter clock of a whole fruit ends when you cut it. Put the cut face in a closed box in the fridge. This page does not invent a day for a wedge. A sooner date on the pack wins. Date types are on the use-by and best-before guide.

Fresh-squeezed juice is the other row. Bottled juice is not mixed in, and a bottled window is not quoted. The pantry cell is Not safe. Keep the juice covered in the fridge, 6 days. The bold number is six days. Do not shut a cut lemon in the same closed box as strawberries. A lemon is not an apple either; apples have their own page, and a banana’s ripening is a different page. The map of the fridge is in the fridge article. If you are still unsure, the still-safe tool asks from the short end of the chart.

Get perishable food into the fridge within 2 hours of cooking it or bringing it home, and within 1 hour if the kitchen is above 32°C (90°F). USDA FSIS and Turkey’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry both publish that cutoff. A closed deep pot stays warm; a shallow box cools.

A chart is a window, not a verdict on the container in your hand. A sour smell, a slimy surface, or mould means it is finished, even on day one. This page is not medical advice.

• A soft, slimy, or collapsing side. A firm fruit with duller skin is not that.
• Mould, often in a puncture or on a cut face. Eating around the mould does not rescue that lemon.
• A fermented smell. The lemon’s own sharp smell is not that.
• Juice that smells fermented, looks fizzy, or grows a film. Fresh-squeezed juice going a little cloudy is not the same as a film.

A hard lemon is not spoilage. That is still the whole fruit on the citrus line.

The whole-lemon freezer cell is No time is printed for this cell. This page does not invent a month for a whole lemon. The row with a freezer figure is fresh-squeezed juice. The ministry caps fruits at 6 months. The line is named fruits, not lemon juice. The bold number is six months. FoodKeeper’s own lemon-juice freezer line is 12 months. The months are about quality. USDA says food held continuously at −18°C (0°F) stays safe.

Pour the juice into a small closed container, leave a little room, and freeze it. Thaw in the fridge. Do not refreeze what has thawed. Frozen juice is for cooking. The taste of juice just squeezed does not come back. Freezing a whole lemon as if a month were printed is not what the whole-fruit row says. This page also does not print a month for zest, or for mashed peel.

Thaw in the refrigerator, not on the counter. Do not refreeze a portion that has thawed. The ministry states the same rule: thaw frozen food in the fridge and take out only what you will eat.

• The citrus line is a lemon-only figure. The printed line is lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, tangerine, clementine. The counter is 10 days and the fridge is 10–21 days. The bold number is ten days.
• Fresh juice shares the whole lemon’s clock. Juice in the fridge is 6 days. The bold number is six days. The pantry cell is Not safe. The whole lemon’s fridge is 10–21 days.
• Six months in the freezer is a use-by date for lemon juice. That is the ministry fruit ceiling, 6 months. The line is named fruits, not lemon juice. FoodKeeper’s own line is 12 months. The bold number is six months. The months are about quality.

The windows assume a generally healthy household. Pregnancy, young children, older age, or a weakened immune system are reasons to keep the shorter figure, to skip raw or undercooked food, and to reheat leftovers until the centre is steaming. USDA’s figure for reheating leftovers is 74°C (165°F).

Heating a mouldy lemon does not undo mould. In pregnancy, for young children, in older age, or with a weakened immune system, do not sort a mouldy fruit by tasting it. Fresh-squeezed juice is perishable. Juice that sat out warm is not made safe by a drink. A lemon is not raw meat. Eating around the mould still does not rescue that fruit.