lemon cheese

4.2

A sweet thick spread for toast or cake made from lemons, butter, eggs, and sugar

noun

: mermelada de limón

She spread lemon cheese on her toast for breakfast.

Examples

Would you like a scone with some lemon cheese?
The homemade lemon cheese gave the cake a delightful tangy flavor.
I love lemon cheese on my toast.
She made some delicious lemon cheese for dessert.
She spread lemon cheese on her toast for breakfast.
The homemade lemon cheese gave the cake a delightful tangy flavor.
Would you like a scone with some lemon cheese?

Synonyms

lemon curd

vslemon cheese

3 2.5

A thick sweet spread made from lemons, butter, eggs, and sugar for cakes and toast

is served as a conserve or dessert topping rather than as a filling

How Thick

lemon cheese

4.2

lemon curd

3 2.5

marmalade

15 2.8

lemon butter

1 2.9

lemon juice

46 1.0

Surface Forms

lemon cheese singular

lemon cheeses plural

Morphology

lemon + cheese

Knowing 'lemon' and 'cheese' signals a lemon-flavoured food item, so learners will expect a lemon-based edible product, but the specific meaning — a sweet, egg-and-butter spread (like lemon curd) rather than literal dairy cheese — is a culinary extension of 'cheese' that is not fully predictable. This specialized food usage can mislead learners into thinking of a dairy cheese with lemon, so the relation is only partially transparent.

Etymology

The name lemon cheese comes from old home cooking where people made a thick, creamy mix from lemon juice, eggs, butter and sugar. Because the mix cooled and became firm, like cheese, they called it cheese, so lemon cheese came to mean a sweet 'spread' you put on toast.