Preserve Your Own Lemons

Preserve Your Own Lemons

Monday, March 6, 2023

 

Make your own preserved lemons

Preserved lemons are a great addition to tagines and vegetable dishes, and they take just minutes – plus a few weeks' patience – to make.

The golden glow of preserved lemons will light up your kitchen and your cooking. "Make a jar," Diana Henry writes in Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons, "and you'll soon be addicted to the taste, employing them not just in Moroccan tagines but in a dish of Mediterranean vegetables, with olive oil-roasted potatoes and red onions, in bowls of bulgur wheat, couscous and pulses…" All it takes is 20 minutes of slicing and squeezing, and three or four weeks' patience.

Start by sterilizing a sturdy, easily resealed glass jar – a clip-top Kilner is perfect – for 15 minutes at 140C/275F/gas mark 1. A jar between 500ml and 1 liter in capacity is a good size to begin with. You'll also need coarse salt and what may seem like far too many unwaxed lemons – between six and seven for every half-liter. You will possibly end up with one or two left over, but you may need these for topping up later – and if you can't find a use for a spare lemon you shouldn't be in the kitchen in the first place.

Once the jar is cool enough to handle, or on its way there, wash and dry the fruit, remove any stems, and slice the lemons almost in separate quarters lengthwise, stopping just short of the stem end. The aim is to leave four pieces that are still joined over a centimetre or two.

Working over a bowl, do your best to cram a tablespoon of salt inside each fruit, placing them in the jar as you go, together with any salt that has escaped. Press them down as firmly as you can. Stop just before you reach the top, add the last bit of leftover salt and release as many air bubbles as you can. With luck, all the squeezing will have liberated enough lemon juice to comfortably cover the fruit; if not, add more before sealing the jar.

And that's pretty much all there is to it. Put the jar somewhere cool and dark for at least three weeks, upending it occasionally to redistribute the loose salt, and topping up the juice if the lemons become exposed. Once your peel is soft and ready to use, move the jar to the fridge, where the contents should keep for around a year or more.

Spiced Preserved Lemons Recipe

Spiced Preserved Lemons Recipe

Monday, October 24, 2011

Preserved lemons add tang and saltiness to many Mediterranean dishes. Try them in our Preserved Lemon and Bitters Vinaigrette, Vegetable Tagine, or Moroccan Charmoula Dressing.

What to buy: Look for lemons that don’t have any wax on the outside—organic lemons tend to be unwaxed. If you can only find conventional lemons, wash them briefly under very hot water to remove any wax.

Special equipment: You will need a resealable quart jar, a band, and a new lid for storing the lemons. A wide-mouth canning jar works best.

Game plan: You’ll need to begin this recipe the night before, by soaking the lemons.

INGREDIENTS
10 medium lemons (preferably organic, without a wax coating)
3/4 cup kosher salt
3 bay leaves
2 (4-inch) cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon whole allspice
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon whole coriander

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Soak the lemons in cold water overnight, weighing them down with a plate or plastic bag filled with water. Drain and dry the lemons with a towel.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat (the pot needs to be deep enough so the water covers the 1-quart jar). Place the clean, wide-mouth quart jar, band, and lid in the water and lower the heat to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes, then turn the heat off, leaving the jar in the water until ready to use. Remove the band and lid and dry with a clean towel; set aside.
3. Working over a medium bowl, take 7 of the lemons and make 4 equally spaced lengthwise slits in each, starting about 1/2 inch below the stem and ending about 1/2 inch above the base. Cut through the skin, stopping at the center of the lemon. Squeeze each lemon gently from top to bottom so the slits pop open, then sprinkle the interior with 1 heaping tablespoon of the salt, making sure the salt gets into the center. Let any excess salt or lemon juice fall into the bowl.
4. Remove the jar from the pot and shake out any excess water; set aside. Add the remaining salt and the spices to the bowl and stir to combine. Drop some of the salt-spice mixture into the jar and add the lemons one at a time, compacting each with a wooden spoon until it releases its juice and is packed very tightly. Alternate layers of the salt-spice mixture and lemons, adding all of the mixture and stopping when you reach the shoulder of the jar. If the lemons are not completely covered with their own juices, squeeze the juice from the 3 remaining lemons and pour it into the jar. Seal the jar and place it in a warm, bright spot.
5. Once a day for the first week, shake the jar and carefully open it over the sink to let out any excess gas. After the first week, the fermentation will slow and you’ll only need to shake and “burp” the jar once every 7 days. After about a month, the liquid will clear and the lemons will be ready to use. They will keep for up to 2 months in the refrigerator.