Preserved Lemons

[CraigC]

Remind me how to make preserved lemons--I always buy mine...expensive!

They aren't really hard to make. The most effort will be sterilizing the mason jars.

Ingredients
12 organic lemons, washed and dried. You may need a few extra depending on size and for juice.

1 Cup pickling or koshar salt

Make cuts in each lemon starting at the blossom end to the stem
end, stopping within 1/2" of the stem end. Rotate 90 degrees and repeat. Sterilize 3 pint jars, lids and rings in boiling water. Each jar should be done just before you are ready to stuff them, so the are still warm. Place salt in a bowl large enough to work over. Working over the bowl, gently spread apart the lemons and apply salt generously to the insides. Excess salt will fall back into the bowl. Immediately, add each lemon to the jar, pressing it down firmly to release juice. Fill each jar to within an inch of the top, making sure the lemons are completely covered in juice. Add 2 Tbsp of salt to each jar. Add lids and seal jars. Let cure for 3 weeks, turning the jars over every 2 days.

 

[CWS4322]

Thanks! Sterilizing jars is not my problem--I do a lot of that starting right now until the end of September. Finding the organic lemons might be a bit tricky...have to make a trip into the heart of the City for those...

 

[Claire]

How funny. I just did this a week ago. Haven't done it for years. But the flavor of the preserved lemons is so mellow that you can eat them skin, pith and all. But I didn't turn the jars. Need to go up and do that.

I hate to say it, but I do not insist on finding organic lemons. I do wash them, though.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Lemons were 2 for a $1 yesterday...I hope it still holds they looked fantastic for once, but I was on a mission for treats for the nursing staff at the time.

 

[Siegal]

Thanks! Sterilizing jars is not my problem--I do a lot of that starting right now until the end of September. Finding the organic lemons might be a bit tricky...have to make a trip into the heart of the City for those...

I love preserved lemons. I see you know how to jar something. I have been wanting to pickle things but worry I will make myself sick. Do you need special equipment? Like special jars

 

[Claire]

The main thing to remember is that things like preserved lemons and kimchee are not truly canned items, they aren't really canned. I do sterilize the jars first, but the lemons (and whatever in kimchee) are not cooked. Be careful.

 

[CraigC]

When canning you must sterilize the jars, lids and rings the same as making the preserved lemons. We make homemade worcestershire sauce, which after filling the jars, putting the lids on and tightening the rings, the jars go in a pot of boiling water that has a rack on the bottom. The rack prevents the jars from actually touching the bottom of the pan. Once sterilized, the jars are lifted out and set on a dish towel to cool. You will hear a distinctive "pop" letting you know the lid has created an air tight seal. We use jar tongs to lift the jars in and out of the pot. We reuse the jars and rings, but always use new lids.

 

[CWS4322]

Yes, home canning does require some special equipment. Canning jars are recommended, not recommended is re-using mayo jars, etc. Your local extension office probably has lots of information on home canning. I never reuse lids. I always sterilize the jars, and most of what I do is water bathed, some is pressure water bathed in the pressure cooker. We do a lot of canning--tomatoes, pickles, jams, maple syrup, salsa verde, etc.

 

[GotGarlic]

This website - Food in Jars - is all about canning. Tons of recipes and information about canning all kinds of foods.

This particular post, on preserved lemons, has lots of ideas in the comments for using them: Preserved Lemons

 

[Addie]

So what do you use these lemons in? Something like a Lemon Poppyseed bread? I have preserved lemons in a heavily concentrated sugar syrup. Great for desserts. Thinly sliced, and placed over a Frosted Lemon Cake, they make a pretty presentation. Even placed across the top of the Lemon Poppyseed bread. I have also use it to flavor the frosting with a couple of spoonfuls in place of the milk in a buttercream frosting or even a cream cheese frosting. But I would be afraid that the preserved in salt would taste salty.

Clue me in.

 

[CWS4322]

I add them to pasta dishes, Moroccan dishes, lentil-based dishes, ummm...trying to think ...

Here's a link:

Recipes Using Preserved Lemons Cookbook - Food.com - 94074

 

[Claire]

Preserved lemons are more used in savory dishes, not sweet. You'll find them in almost any North African cookbook, as CWS mentioned, Morrocan. Couscous, tagines (stews), etc. There is a ton of salt in them, but they are amazingly not all that salty tasting. Think in terms of a sort of pickle. The process takes the bitterness out of the rind and softens the entire wedge.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I like preserved lemons in chicken piccata.

 

[Siegal]

So what do you use these lemons in? Something like a Lemon Poppyseed bread? I have preserved lemons in a heavily concentrated sugar syrup. Great for desserts. Thinly sliced, and placed over a Frosted Lemon Cake, they make a pretty presentation. Even placed across the top of the Lemon Poppyseed bread. I have also use it to flavor the frosting with a couple of spoonfuls in place of the milk in a buttercream frosting or even a cream cheese frosting. But I would be afraid that the preserved in salt would taste salty.

Clue me in.

I like to slice them very thin and add to Israeli salad.

 

[taxlady]

I like to slice them very thin and add to Israeli salad.

What is Israeli salad?

 

[LunadeMiel]

I really want to try this.

 

[Cerise]

How about Meyer lemons.

Preserved Meyer Lemons | The Urban Spork

Preserved Meyer Lemons Recipe at Epicurious.com

 

[AnnCook]

When I still lived back East I had a friend whose mother was Moroccan and she would have jar after jar of preserved lemon.

If I remember properly it was just thin sliced lemon, lemon juice, salt and lots of shoving to get it all in to the jar. I don't remember her sterilizing or canning them and I never got sick. But I think this will be one of the first things on my shelf when I learn to can just in case my stomach's not the iron it used to be.

 

[CharlieD]

What is Israeli salad?

it really is a Russian cucumber - tomato salad, but somehow it became Israeli salad in America. I bet Israeli do not even know it's exists.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I really want to try this.

Me too!