The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Food & crafts => Food processing => Topic started by: Bionic on December 31, 2012, 11:14:06 am
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I watched the Spice Trail on ch4 last night and they used preserved lemons in one of the recipes.
I have looked on line and it seems that you preserve them in salt with a bit of added flavour i.e. bayleaves, peppercorns, chilli if you want.
I just wondered if anyone on here had preserved them and if they are salty when you use them or if you have to wash them before use.
thanks
Sally
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Yes - I always have a jar of preserved lemons in my larder. Easy peasy to do (I always use lemon juice rather than a mix of juice and lemon by the way) and I use them In tagines and middle eastern cookery. Yes, they are salty and always rinse them before use. They lend something quite unique to chicken casseroles.
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Found this
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3555/preserved-lemons (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3555/preserved-lemons)
Looks very easy
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suziequeue, I found a recipe but without the bayleaf, etc, just salt so I did that. They have been sitting in it for a couple of weeks now. Have a couple more weeks to go before I can use them though.
I was watching a programme where they used them in a curry so am waiting patiently for them as I love curry.
thanks
Sally
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I'm going to have a go if I can find some cheap lemons as we do a bit of Moroccan style and curry recipes.
Can they be preserved in sugar of?
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Hmmm, not sure about that. I haven't seen it any any of the recipes. Still, if you get cheap lemons you could try it with just one. Would be great in sweet recipes I think.
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In theory sugar should work just as well as salt but I think you would need to be more concentrated and find some flavorings that go with the sweet lemons, vanilla would be interesting.
Bearing in mind that you normally only use the rind of the salted lemons (they use the pulp in Berber cooking I think) what would you use the sweet ones for? Might be nice if chopped finely and added to something like a lemon meringue pie. They would add an extra burst of flavour and some additional texture.
With regard to picking your lemons, try to avoid the really thick skinned waxed ones. Best to go for smaller, thinner skinned, unwaxed and if possible organic. Do try with some additional spices such as cumin seeds, bay, cinnamon stick, and pepper corns, it makes so much difference. In the past I have cut down on the cost of additional lemons for juice by mixing up my salt and spices, quartering the lemons and packing them very tight lemon/salt/lemon/salt until the jar is full. But then the lemons are so packed in you only need the juice of one extra lemon to fill to the top. It also means you can use normal jam jars rather than expensive large ones.
I will look up the recipe with the spices and post it for you to try
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Thanks Artscott - that's very informative.
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Presumably lemons preserved in sugar is marmalade? :eyelashes:
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I have to say I was disappointed with my preserved lemons :(
Despite washing them before using it made the food very salty. I am not a salt lover at the best of times so I found that I couldn't eat much of it.
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What did you cook bionic? Did you wash them before using?
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I was cooking this
http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/tv-show-recipes/spice-trip-recipes/chicken-braised-with-preserved-lemons-and-cinnamon-recipe (http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/tv-show-recipes/spice-trip-recipes/chicken-braised-with-preserved-lemons-and-cinnamon-recipe)
Yes, the lemons were washed before use.