Preserved Lemons: A Two-Ingredient Recipe

Recently, when I made limoncello from the plump fruit of our little Meyer lemon tree, I had leftovers: seven perfect and precious—but naked— lemons. Their skins were soaking in vodka (see last week’s story for the limoncello recipe). What to do with the juice? Freezing it was one option, but I wanted to salt-preserve the rest of the crop, and this juice would be an added luxury. You can make preserved lemons with just fruit and salt, but a top-up of lemon juice makes this versatile condiment and slow ferment even better: a little of the salty syrup from the preserved lemons makes fantastic vinaigrettes and drizzles for salads and seafood crudos, and a spoonful added to roasting vegetables or slow winter stews adds eye-widening depth of flavor. It’s also very good on the rim of a holiday cocktail glass.

If you use store-bought fruit, whether organically grown or not, wash them well and then dry them. Cut them from the tip to the stem end into quarters, but leave them attached at the base (cutting them all the way does not alter their flavor so don’t panic if you over-slice a couple).

To juice lemons I like to use either a stainless steel or glass citrus juicer that separates seeds and juice. A stainless citrus juicer is $16.99 from Amazon.

Preserved Lemons

This method works for any quantity of lemons. Preserve one or 20. Meyers are very thin-skinned, but thicker-skinned lemons work very well, too.

• 8 Meyer lemons
• Fine sea salt
• Juice of 7 to 8 lemons
• 4 fresh bay leaves (optional)

Wash and dry the lemons. Cut each fruit into quarters from the tip to the stem end, but keeping the stem end intact. Place the fruit on a plate. Add a tablespoonful of salt to the center of each lemon. Some will fall out, don’t worry. When your lemons are filled pack them into a clean jar or jars that can hold them comfortably. Add more salt, shaking it down, to reach about one quarter of the way up the jar. Pour in the juice. Add the bay leaves, if using. Cover with a lid and give the jar a good shake. Loosen the lid again. Leave out at room temperature for at least a month. You’ll notice the liquid level rising as juice is drawn from the lemons. If any lemons remain uncovered after a few days, add more salt to the jar. Preserved lemons keep indefinitely, becoming softer as they mature.

To use them, rinse them off and chop finely, you can use both the lemons kin and the soft pulp (just discard the seeds).

See also:

• Yuzu Syrup: It’s a Tea, a Marmalade, and a Tonic
• The Citrus Tree I Didn’t Know I Needed: Kumquat
• Healthy Candy: Dried Naked Citrus Is Your New Addictive Snack