Preserved Lemons

[Suvir Saran]

Do you preserve lemons at home?

What is the best season to do so? Summer?

Do you buy preserved lemons?? What do you use them for?

I have often seen a red thing in some.. what is it?

[Brad S]

I make my preserved lemons Moroccan style with a safi mixture,really just salt a cinnamon stick,cloves coriander seeds,black peppercorns and bay leaf.

Besides using them in my kettle one martinies I primarily use them when preparing tagines.as far as the red thing,i'm not sure

[Suvir Saran]

A caped chef,

What is a safi mixture?

The chef that taught me how to preserve these did so only with salt.

I have seen some in the market with a red stuff in the container...

How long do you keep the bottle closed? Do you put the jars in the sun at all?

Have a recipe for the preserved lemons?

[Suvir Saran]

A caped chef,

How do you make these preserved lemon Ketel One Martinis?

[Brad S]

Suvir,

Sorry I wasn't more specific "safi" is a city south of casablanca and north of essaouira,well known for fish and seafood dishes where preserved lemons are prodominent in many dishes.

I 1/4 th lemons without going all the way through,and sprinkle kosher salt on the flesh and the rind,I then put about a tablespoon of salt on the bottom of a mason jar,pack in the lemon and spices pushing down on the fruit to release it's juice to cover the fruit,if the lemon juice is not enough to cover I add some more,then cover,keep in a warm spot for about a month turning everyday and that's it. I always rince the lemon to get rid of all the excess salt before using. As for the kettle one martini,I just make a normal (very dry)martini and add a couple of slices of the cured rind.Love it.

I hope you try it,Suvir,you can also blanch the lemons first to soften the skin before preserving,but I don't

[Suvir Saran]

I will make some over the weekend.

Thanks for the detailed recipe.

I have been making them with just salt.

Yours sounds so much better.

Thanks very much.

[polly]

A method that I just learned, to speed up the process of making preserved lemons, is to freeze the lemons first, then thaw them and proceed with the recipe.

The freezing and thawing breaks down some of the cell structure, softening the lemon rind.

[Suzanne F]

I did mine with Meyer lemons, half salt, half sugar, no spices. I usually find the all-salt kind too salty and I hate to rinse them. Just cut, pack in jar, add salt and sugar, plus some extra lemon juice to keep them covered.

BTW, I hope CC gets a fee everytime he mentions his favorite brand of vodka!

[anil]

A caped chef,

What is a safi mixture? 

The chef that taught me how to preserve these did so only with salt. 

I have seen some in the market with a red stuff in the container...

How long do you keep the bottle closed?  Do you put the jars in the sun at all? 

Have a recipe for the preserved lemon

Suvir, as the caped chef mentioned the folks in Safi preserve it differently - i.e adding dal-chinee,jeera,dhaniya-ke-beej etc. But basically you are right - Only salt is used in preserving the lemons.

Re: Kettle One ? Is this a variation to a dirty martini ?

[johnjohn]

In cooking - Do you use the pulp or just the rind of a preserved lemon.

johnjohn

[Suzanne F]

Just the rind (zest). And as with fresh lemons, you remove the white part -- the pith.

Who has a recipe for preserved lemonade lemonade? I know there's one out there. This is different from the lime drink (loomi) in another thread.

[SethG]

I have a jar of preserved lemons I made several months ago by the Wolfert method, using just salt and lemon juice. I am aware that you can use several different spices with the lemons as well, although I did not.

I just made a dish with the preserved lemons and I thought they tasted great-- pickled, almost candied.

But I've seen some preserved lemons brought back from Morocco and at a local market (Sahadi's in Brooklyn) and those lemons have almost a tan color, and a slightly bloated appearance. Mine, by contrast, remain bright yellow.

What causes this change in color in the purchased lemons? Are mine "wrong" or "inauthentic"? Please advise.

[Wolfert]

Hi Seth:

In Morocco, many types of lemons are put up in salt. Some are used in cooking while others are best in salads.

The mildly aromatic thick-skinned, limun buserra, a yellow, shiny, lemon with a nipple at each end, is similar to our California Eureka lemon. Every winter, I put up a

batch of Eurekas in coarse salt to be used in cooking. They take about a month to ripen. I think this is what you used and I can promise you it is authentic.

The fragrant, thin-skinned lim doqq, the creme de la creme of Moroccan lemons, is similar to the American hybrid Meyer lemon in appearance, but not in aroma or flavor. Both are small lemons with a greenish yellow pulp, very juicy and aromatic. Preserved Meyer lemons can be used to flavor olives, salads and vegetables in brine. Sometimes this lemon turns a bit tan with time. Or with preservatives.

By the way, in the town of Fez, there is yet another sweet lemon called lim lamsayyar. It, too, is thin-skinned and small with a sweet flavor. Fassis (citizens of Fez) consider it the finest lemon in Morocco to preserve. It is also known as "lime," Mediterranean sweet lemon" and "limetta." If you visit Fez you can buy this lemon already preserved in salt in jars. I haven't seen this lemon in a jar in a long time and am wondering if this could be the lemon you saw. Do you have the producer's name? You might have discovered something really special.

Edited August 27, 2003 by Wolfert (log)

[SethG]

Thank you for what is surely the authoritative answer to my question!

The next time I'm in Sahadi's, Ill ask them what lemons they are using. The ones I saw there were not canned, but were instead sold individually in the same section of the store as the olives, pepperoncini, and the like. Seems unlikely they were lamsayyars, but I'll let you know if I've really stumbled on a find.

[Adam Balic]

I have come upon a supply of Citron/Cedro. I would like to preserved these, will this work? They are about 20-25 cm long and 10-15 cm wide. The rind is up to an 3 cm thick. As they have very little juice I was going to use lemon juice to top up.

While I am at it, could I use bitter/Seville oranges in this manner? I have been freezing them to use in some Arabic cooking, but my wife is complaining about loosing toes to small oragnge cannonballs shooting out of the freezer.

[Episure]

But I've seen some preserved lemons brought back from Morocco and at a local market (Sahadi's in Brooklyn) and those lemons have almost a tan color, and a slightly bloated appearance.  Mine, by contrast, remain bright yellow.

What causes this change in color in the purchased lemons?  Are mine "wrong" or "inauthentic"?  Please advise.

We pickle lemons/limes in the same way here in India. To get them to tan , treat them like humans i.e., put them out in the sun. Seriously.

[SethG]

I finally made it back to Sahadi's today, and I asked the proprietor, Charley, about his preserved lemons. He hasn't had any in stock for a few months, and he doesn't know how they're made. "I wish I could tell you" was his answer to my question about the color. He was able to tell me that he imports them from a supplier in Egypt, and he buys them by the barrel. His supplier seems to have abandoned him, however. Charley said the supplier recently told him he'd be able to get him the lemons in jars, but that this hasn't come through either.

I also want to ask another preserved lemon question. I put up a new jar of the lemons last weekend, this time adding a bay leaf, a cinnamon stick and a few cloves. It's been sitting on my counter, and it looks great. But I'm afraid I'm going to kill my family if I use the lemons, for a few different reasons.

1. The lemon at the top of the jar kept popping up above the juice. For several days, I kept opening the jar, pushing the lemon down, and adding more salt and lemon juice to the jar. Then I'd shake the jar the next day and up would pop this lemon again! I don't think it's popped up in a couple days now, but I've probably opened the jar at least four or five times since I filled it. I don't think the lemon ever spent a lot of time above the juice; it's the repeated opening and closing of the jar I'm really concerned about.

2. I sterilized the jar by running it through the dishwasher. At the time, I thought this was enough, since the environment inside the jar is so acidic and salty. I didn't think there was much risk of botulism in such an environment. But now I'm worried I should have sterilized better, as if I were making preserves. (I sterilized in the same fashion last time, by the way. But I chickened out after several days with that jar and stuck it in the fridge for the better part of the last year. This time, I want to leave it on the counter as instructed.)

Can anyone put my mind at ease? Or should I pitch the jar and start over?

And anyone who knows can answer, by the way. I'm sure Paula didn't join eGullet to give me private lessons!

[Mottmott]

I can't answer as to whether your lemons are safe, but I can give you a tip about keeping them in the brine when you make them. Just weight them down with a glass or ceramic plate, ramekin, etc. just small enough to get through the opening of the jar you are preserving them in. I use the same trick when cooking artichokes to keep them from bobbing up.

[lamington]

I just recently preserved lemons for the first time, and found it interesting that very many of the recipes/instructions I looked at (5+) didn't mention sterilisation at all! According to info from the WHO, CDC and USDA, botulism does not survive in acidic environments. This is probably why many commercial crushed-garlic preparations contain a lot of vinegar.

If in doubt, only use the lemons if you can boil them (eg, in the food you're cookng) for at least 10 mins at 100C.

[Suzanne F]

I made a large jar of Meyer lemons a little less than 2 years ago. They kept popping up, too. So I weighted them down with a heavy-duty plastic bag filled with water. Once they were well-infused with the brine, they sank on their own.

Along the same lines, as Mottmott discussed, I use a cloth napkin on my artichokes. Learned that at work. Then I throw it in the wash with a hint of bleach, and it's good for the next time. (Cloth napkins are also excellent for straining liquids like tomato water, instead of using a dozen layers of cheesecloth.)

[Bicycle Lee]

I just made some of these as well...using J. Peterson's method....just immersing lemons in salt...

the ones that had flesh showing turned tan, but the ones that remained submerged were yellow...

I also segregated some and added rosemary sprigs into the salt with the lemons....but it was overpowered by the citrus...

[Mottmott]

I made a large jar of Meyer lemons a little less than 2 years ago.  They kept popping up, too.  So I weighted them down with a heavy-duty plastic bag filled with water.  Once they were well-infused with the brine, they sank on their own.

Along the same lines, as Mottmott discussed, I use a cloth napkin on my artichokes.  Learned that at work.  Then I throw it in the wash with a hint of bleach, and it's good for the next time.  (Cloth napkins are also excellent for straining liquids like tomato water, instead of using a dozen layers of cheesecloth.)

Your napkin idea is brilliant, but I'll give it a twist and use a terry wash cloth. I've discoved Value City has thin terry washcloths for about $4 for a dozen and a half. I've bought 3 batches so far and will get more next time I'm near there. (I also like keeping those really thin "floursack towels" in the kitchen.)

They're in little stashes around the house for the kids. I find that I sometimes use one as I might use a paper towel: one use then toss it in the washing machine instead of the trash. It's handy not just to clean a grubby face but also to lift a pot lid.

[Mottmott]

I made a large jar of Meyer lemons a little less than 2 years ago.  They kept popping up, too.  So I weighted them down with a heavy-duty plastic bag filled with water.  Once they were well-infused with the brine, they sank on their own.

Along the same lines, as Mottmott discussed, I use a cloth napkin on my artichokes.  Learned that at work.  Then I throw it in the wash with a hint of bleach, and it's good for the next time.  (Cloth napkins are also excellent for straining liquids like tomato water, instead of using a dozen layers of cheesecloth.)

Your napkin idea is brilliant, but I'll give it a twist and use a terry wash cloth. I've discoved Value City has thin terry washcloths for about $4 for a dozen and a half. I've bought 3 batches so far and will get more next time I'm near there. (I also like keeping those really thin "floursack towels" in the kitchen.)

They're in little stashes around the house for the kids. I find that I sometimes use one as I might use a paper towel: one use then toss it in the washing machine instead of the trash. It's handy not just to clean a grubby face but also to lift a pot lid.

[fifi]

On the When life hands you lemons... thread and the Seville Oranges thread, the topic of preserved citrus came up. I typically keep a glass lidded jar of preserved lemons in my fridge. I have a new batch started just now. I use the salt and lemon juice method from Patricia Wells' At Home in Provence.

I want to explore other methods and the results as well as some of your uses of preserved lemons.

Then I want to step outside of the box and see what other citrus would lend itself to preserving. And an even better question might be, what would you do with THAT?

Yesterday, my local grocery had bags of Key Limes on sale. These are actually the little suckers that come from Mexico and are called limons there. I scrubbed them up, cut them into eighths just like the lemon recipe I use, juiced the rest of them, and put them down with salt in a glass lidded jar. If they behave like the lemons, it will probably take about a month for them to "finish", or it may take less time since the slices are so much smaller.

If I find some Seville oranges I may try them, too.

Then there is the "orange tree" on the power line easement that my sister found a couple of years ago. Actually, these things look like an orange key lime. I have seen something like them once on an Emeril special in Hawaii and they called them "Hawaiian limes". I have no idea if they are the same thing. They just looked alike. They are very tart, seedy and have a strong orangy flavor. They made dynamite marmalade. We have no idea what they actually are and even less of a clue as to what that tree is doing growing in that easement. We may go check it out tomorrow. If we do I will get some pictures and finally figure out how to post those here.

Let us proceed...

[rgruby]

I would think that differing levels of acidity in various citrus fruits (as well as their sizes) might affect how long they take to "ripen", but I don't see any reason why you couldn't preserve other citrus fruits. Go for it!

Slightly off topic, the last batch I did, a couple of the lemons were not fully submerged in the juice. (I noticed this after they'd been in the fridge for a few weeks). I have not eaten any of this batch for fear that doing so might kill me. Anyone think they'll still be ok - maybe if I cut off the bits that are exposed to air? If there was botulism in the parts exposed to air, could it make its way into the flesh that was submerged? Should I just go and make another batch, dump this one and quit worrying?

Cheers,

Geoff Ruby