Thursday, August 18, 2011

Zest of Life

Or lemons, rather. And not really zest. More like the whole lemon. And not a regular lemon. Organic lemons. Preserved. With Salt. Yeah, I know salt is bad for you. And as a general rule, I stay away from salt. Besides it being bad for you, my body doesn't process salt well. My ankles swell and it's not a pretty sight. Think the Elephant Man (or girl). Yeah. Ewww.....

BUT- all that aside- preserving lemons is easy. It requires a seal-able jar, lemons, and salt. (Kosher salt or sea salt.)


Preserved lemons are fantastic in stews or any time you need a bit of lemon zest and don't have fresh lemons on hand. Besides, watching the lemons in the jar is magic all on its own. Seriously. They meta-morph into something wonderful!

Just rinse the lemons before use, and voila'! Fantastic lemons.

I used organic lemons. But you could use Meyer Lemons or any really good variety of your choosing.
Just slice the lemons, rub salt into the slices and all around...then place in a jar and let sit.
Once the extracted juice becomes cloudy (about three weeks), you can place it in the fridge. As long as the brine covers the lemons, they'll keep for about a year. A year! Wow!

3 comments:

  1. and do you like it?

    Hubby made a jar a couple months ago... I cannot stand them. He likes them.

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  2. I have not tried these yet. I just made this batch of organic lemons yesterday. I need to let it sit for 3 weeks first.

    I must rinse my lemons really really really well, because I generally do not like salt. I don't put it on my food and I ask for things (like fries) to be salt free.

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  3. I love salty foods, but these lemons, even well-rinsed, are SO salty. Funny, then, that he likes them so much, as he doesn't have the salt tooth I have.

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