An Easy Guide to Making Preserved Lemons
Easy-peasy guide to making preserved lemons at home.
Scroll down for the recipe to make these easy preserved lemons at home.
For the longest time I have wanted to make preserved lemons. Somehow I thought it would be messy and time consuming. It was actually surprising to see how quick and easy it really was.
Having googled how to make the preserved lemons it got kind of confusing as there were so many different way to do it. I took the approach of combining different methods. Here is what I did to make my preserved lemons.
First of all sterilise your jar – wash in warm soapy water and rinse well. Place in the oven at 180oC for at least 15 minutes and carefully remove from the oven. Let the jar cool.
In the meantime, wash your lemons and remove the stem ends.
Cut the bottoms off of each lemon and cut through the middle being careful to stop before cutting right through. Cut through the top again so that you have made a cross.
In the jar, sprinkle a layer of sea salt. One lemon at a time fill with sea salt and place in the jar. Fit the lemons in the jar as tightly as possible, sprinkling with more sea salt.
To the jar add the juice of two lemons and fill to the top with cooled boiled water. If the lemons are bobbing to the top of the jar it is a good idea to put a place or small jar on top of the lemons to keep them submerged.
Leave on the counter top, turning the jar every couple of days, for about three weeks. The jar can be left in the fridge after that for up to six months as long as the preserved lemons are kept submerged.
When you are ready to use the preserved lemons cut the pith from the skin and discard. Wash the excess salt off the skin and use in tagines and salads.
Brings a bit of sunshine to your meals!
A guide to making Moroccan style preserved lemons at home - minimal fuss and minimum ingredients.
- 5-8 lemons
- 2 juiced lemons
- sea salt
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First of all sterilise your jar – wash in warm soapy water and rinse well. Place in the oven at 180oC for at least 15 minutes and carefully remove from the oven. Let the jar cool.
-
In the meantime, wash your lemons and remove the stem ends.
-
Cut the bottoms off of each lemon and cut through the middle being careful to stop before cutting right through. Cut through the top again so that you have made a cross.
-
In the jar, sprinkle a layer of sea salt. One lemon at a time fill with sea salt and place in the jar. Fit the lemons in the jar as tightly as possible, sprinkling with more sea salt.
-
To the jar add the juice of two lemons and fill to the top with cooled boiled water. If the lemons are bobbing to the top of the jar it is a good idea to put a place or small jar on top of the lemons to keep them submerged.
-
Leave on the counter top, turning the jar every couple of days, for about three weeks. The jar can be left in the fridge after that for up to six months as long as the preserved lemons are kept submerged.
-
When you are ready to use the preserved lemons cut the pith from the skin and discard. Wash the excess salt off the skin and use in tagines and salads.
Nice way to preserve the lemons .. These tips are so handy. Our moms and grand mothers used to preserve a lot of stuff to either by pickling or sun-drying.
This is really neat. I’ll have to give this a try next time I’m up to some canning!
It really is easy – you must try it!
This moroccan way of preserving the lemons are just awesome idea with very simple steps.. its a refreshing post Heidi..
I look e Moroccan ways of preserving – lots of salt and sugary syrup!
Oh wow, I have been meaning to do this for such a long time… Thank you for the push over the edge I need!
Glad to see I have inspired you to make some!
This is such a great idea! Here in Italy, they sell citrus fruit by the box on the roadside! My hubby loves to buy boxes of oranges and lemons especially if they come from Sicily, his birthplace! Sadly I don’t always manage to use them all up! Now I know what to do next time he brings home lemons!
I would love to have access to boxes of Italian lemons ?!
These sound so interesting! I don’t think I’ve ever had preserved lemons before. They sound really easy!
They are really easy and you could do other citrus fruit as well.
ooh I love preserved lemons, so good in a tasty tagine. I’ve never made them myself and I really should”
I had always wanted to make them and was surprised how easy they really were! Have a go!!
I love preserved lemons, I wonder why I never attempted to make my own, your recipe looks so easy! I’ll have to try it soon 🙂
I love quick and simple recipes that give great results – this one ticks the boxes for me.
What a wonderful recipe. During the really hot season getting good lemons is a problem. Making this lemon preserve is a good idea as one can use them for so many recipes when fresh lemon is not available.
preserved lemons are so useful and really delicious!