When life gives you lemons…… preserve them.

These make such a fantastic culinary gift. They look prettiest when freshly made but they need to be at lest 3 months old before you can use them so let the recipient know that they might not look perfect by the time they’ve reached perfection.

Use them in dressings, salads and stews. Pair them with cheese or add them to Moroccan and Middle Eastern recipes. Try a little stirred into mashed potato, or in rice, served with fish. The uses are really endless.

Here are a couple of recipes we’ve used them in;

Lamb, Plum & Preserved Lemon Stew, Green Couscous,

12 lemons Seedless
125g coarse sea salt
4 fresh bay leaves

Cut off the stems of 6 the lemons and a little bit off the bottom (this helps them to sit flat in the jar). Slice each lemon lengthwise into quarters but leave them attached at the bottom.

On a dish, gently open up the lemons and sprinkle salt generously into the cuts.

Place a tablespoon of salt and the bay leaves in a clean, sterilised glass jar. Next, add the salted lemons into the jar. Go on and squish them in!

Juice the 6 remaining lemons and pour into the jars, completely covering the lemons. Pour any leftover salt or lemon juice from the dish into the jar. (if there isn’t enough to cover them you can top up with water)

Press the lemons down well and finish with a final layer of salt.

🍋 Leave the jar in a cool dark place for at least three months before using.
🍋 Turn the jars every day.
🍋 There should always be a layer of salt in the bottom of the jar, so add extra salt if needed.
🍋 The mature lemons are yellowish brown, so don’t worry when they start to change colour
🍋 Once opened, keep in the fridge and re-cover with lemon juice or a layer of olive oil after each use.
🍋 For decoration you could add peppercorns, though this will not affect the taste.