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This recipe is taken from the recently published article The Nourishing Traditions of Morocco and based on a recipe provided by Jacqueline Hahn, my mother!
Ingredients
5 Meyer lemons
2 tablespoons finely ground unrefined sea salt or mined salt
Instructions
- Trim the very tips from the lemons but don’t expose the flesh. Slice the lemons lengthwise into quarters without slicing completely through, so that you keep the quarters connected at the base.
- Sprinkle the inside of the lemons with a generous pinch of salt, and then pack them tightly into a 24-ounce (or 750-ml) glass jar. Sprinkle each layer of lemons with additional salt.
- Press the lemons down tightly in the jar so that they release their juices and combine with the salt into a brine that submerges the lemons completely. Place a weight over the lemons and seal the jar. Use an airtight container to help prevent mold formation. A weight to keep the lemons submerged and a fermentation seal will help even more. Allow the lemons to ferment at least a month before opening the jar to taste them and ensure the pith is no longer bitter. It may take two months!
I made some preserved lemons and they’ve been in my fridge for a year and a half. Do you think they’d be spoiled by now?
no.
So long as you have no mold- I let mine sit for a year before even consuming the lemon.
lacto fermented products should never go bad unless bad bacteria was introduced, you’ll see mold and they will taste horrible!
Is there a recipe for the brine? Or is it just water and the remaining salt?
There is no water involved. Just salt and lemons.
“Press the lemons down tightly in the jar so that they release their juices and combine with the salt into a brine that submerges the lemons completely. Place a weight over the lemons and seal the jar. Use an airtight container to help prevent mold formation. A weight to keep the lemons submerged and a fermentation seal will help even more. Allow the lemons to ferment at least a month before opening the jar to taste them and ensure the pith is no longer bitter. It may take two months!”
Should they be left in the fridge or out at room temp while fermenting?
Thank you:)
Room temperature!
I made this on Monday in a half gallon mason jar. I packed the lemons with pink Himalayan salt. Then pressed them as tight as I could get with a wood compactor (for crocks). I have been burping it and pressing the lemons down each day. I am going to top it off tomorrow with more salt and put a plastic fermentation lock lid on it instead of a lid and ring so it can breath.
The salt and acid are quickly eating the metal. I didn’t think about that.
Then it will sit in my cellar (cool area) for a long time.
I am so excited to see how this comes out.
Do you know if they have some probiotic bacteria? and if they also conserve their vitamin C and/or any other antioxidant?
Thank you
Monica they most definitely have probiotics, vitamin B12 and probably vitamin c but I’m not sure about that one. Anyways they are super duper healthy
This recipe sounds very nutritious. How do you consume it? Do you drink or or put it into recipes?
I am curious about this as well!
I made a quart jar and love how pretty it looks on top of my frig.
I worry that when I need to open to use for lemon zest that the zest will be tooooo salty for dessert recipes…and what else do you use zest for anyway!!
I’d like to know more so I can use these as gifts. Thank you, Victoria