Every Tuesday I answer a question from a Good Food listener. You can email me a question, leave one on Facebook or add one in the comments section here. This week’s came from Margot:
What Is Your Favorite Way To Preserve Lemons?
With so many lemons hanging from local trees these days it’s an incentive to make syrups, “ades” and that old preserving standby Preseved Lemons. If you google the dish you get many variations on the traditional Moroccan method of preserving lemons in salt. They range from the simplest: Make two vertical cuts in the lemon keeping the stem end still intact. Pile the salt into the opening. Press the lemon back together and squeeze into a glass jar. Repeat until jar is full and lemons are covered with expressed juice. If necessary add additional lemon juice to cover, or alternatively let lemons sit on the counter and as the salt softens them continue pressing down until the juice in the lemons covers the fruit in the jar. Seal with lid and put in dark, cool place for a couple of months. The lemons transform into soft, yielding, almost jammy orbs with a mellow salty, sour taste. They are wonderful in stews, vegetable braises and cocktails. I also love them in salads. Rinse before using if too strong. Here is David Lebovitz’s take on making Moroccan Preserved Lemons Thomas Keller has a wonderful way of preserving lemons in slices with both salt and sugar. It is faster and the resultant sweet sour tart slices are addictive.