Preserved Lemons

Name: Preserved Lemons
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 1
Ingredients: 6 lemons; 1 cup of good quality sea salt; A few sprigs of herbs e.g Thyme or Rosemary (optional)

by Food for Daise

1 Cup.

10 min

If, like us, you have a glut of fruit and veg from the garden, or you just want to work on your preservation skills, now is a great time of year to start (end of Summer into Autumn). Preserving means you get to keep the delicious in-season produce tasting good into the winter months and make it go further, as well as avoiding any of it going to waste.

We recently found out just how easy these are to make so we have made a few different batches to play around with flavours. For our first go we kept it basic with just lemon and salt but we decided to add some extra flavour to these by adding some fresh thyme. We have just recently started cooking with our first batch and we are so pleased with them! They smell and taste amazing and are probably the lowest maintenance preserve we’ve ever made, so if you are looking for a place to start, this might well be it.

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Preserved Lemons

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Recipe details

Yield 1 Cup.
Time spent: Prep time: 10 Minutes Cook time: 0 Minutes Total time: 10 min

Show Nutrition Info

Per serving

% Daily value

Instructions

Sterilise your jar by washing it in hot soapy water before putting into a very low oven for a couple of minutes.
Slice all but one of your lemons by cutting them into quarters but stopping before you cut all the way through (about ½ inch from the bottom). You should be able to move each quarter apart slightly but they should be attached at the base.
Stuff your lemons with the salt and any herbs you want to add.
Pack your salt-stuffed lemons into your sterilised jar. Make sure to fill as much space as possible by packing them down and if necessary cut them in half to fill the gaps.
Juice your last lemon, fill the juiced skins with some salt (about 1 ½ tbsp) and add to the jar, followed by the lemon juice.
The additional juice, as well as any that has naturally been released from squishing all of your lemons in, should fill up at least half of the jar. If you have more than this, perfect, if you have less, juice another lemon and add the additional juice.
Leave your lemons to rest, turning the jar to sit upside down every so often if your juice doesn’t reach the top straight away. As the salt draws out the juice the jar will fill with more liquid and you will no longer need to turn the jar.
Over the next week, monitor the lemons and if you can no longer see any salt, top it up slightly with 1-2 tbsp of salt.
Store the jar in a cool place out of direct sunlight.
Your lemons will be ready to use after around 1 month or when the skin becomes soft and the liquid in the jar becomes syrup-like in consistency. Store in the refrigerator once re-opened and you have begun using them.

Tips

In terms of the yield, 1 Cup = 1 jar of lemons
You will need a large glass jar with a lid
Preserved lemons have the most amazing smell - not a tip but just something to enjoy!

Comments

Roberta on Sep 28, 2020

I’m not sure if I understand but what do you do with the canned lemons once they are ready...do you eat them use them for room deodorizes or what

49 Reply
- See 6 previous
- 1ad12471617 on Sep 28, 2020
  
  Great question but there is a ton you can do with them. If you love to eat, here is a wonderful website to visit with tons of ideas: https://www.brit.co/preserved-lemon-recipes/
  
  3
- Naomie Moore aka baileyanddaisey, Castaic CA on Oct 03, 2020
  
  Very popular in many cuisines around the world. Here are some more ideas.
  
  https://www.thekitchn.com/5-ways-to-use-up-a-jar-of-preserved-lemons-ingredient-spotlight-187451
  
  https://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/slideshow/preserved-lemon-slideshow
  
  Personally I use in cocktails, in baking cookies and cakes, or in savory recipes like stews, Indian, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, etc.
  
  4
- Pip on Oct 04, 2020
  
  I was wondering the same thing
  
  Like
- Coo12185823 on Oct 04, 2020
  
  Me too!
  
  Like
- Pinecones & Acorns Blog on Oct 10, 2020
  
  Preserved lemons are used a lot in cooking, especially in tagine recipes. They are delicious!
  
  1
- Edna Elizabeth Woelpper on Oct 11, 2020
  
  They are not stored in a can..you use a mason jar
  .lemons are used in so many different ways if you ever watched thecooking shows ..
  
  Like
- Jalal Diouri on Apr 07, 2022
  
  You can cook some dishes with preserved lemons
  
  Like
Pamela on Oct 03, 2020

I think you can get fresh lemons all year round in the grocery store...

10 Reply
- See 2 previous
- Tracie Geerdes Ecker on Oct 04, 2020
  
  If you have lemon trees in your yard, they produce a lot of lemons. This would be one way to keep them from spoiling.
  
  1
- Pat on Oct 04, 2020
  
  I don’t know about you, but there is a delicious brand of lemon that is only available in my “neck of the woods” during the few summer months, so I was thrilled to find this recipe.
  
  2
- Food for Daise on Oct 14, 2020
  
  Fresh lemons are fantastic too. Preserved lemons have a very different flavour though and can be used lots of different ways to fresh lemons, they have a deeper and saltier flavour.
  
  Like