The White Hat Guide to Preserved Lemons

You probably need 10 or more lemons to make it worthwhile preserving them. Remember, it is the skin that is eventually eaten, so choose ones with reasonable skins. Unless you have a separate source of fresh lemon juice, reserve about one in five of the lemons for their juice at the end.

Wash lemons thoroughly then quarter into wedges. Place in large bowl and massage with coarse sea salt. Don't worry about losing some juice into the bowl. Use about half a cup of salt for each 10 lemons. Leave for an hour or so (optional).

Take one or more clean glass jars - I prefer to use ones with a bit of a neck to help keep the lemons compressed. Start placing the lemon wedges in the jar and intersperse them from time to time with aromatic spices such as cinnamon stick, cloves, peppercorns and star anise. The star anise is not authentically Moroccan, but I find it works well. You can also try fresh bay leaves or even (Australian) lemon myrtle leaves.

As the jar fills, keep forcing in more wedges so as to force the juice out of the lower ones. When the jar is fairly tightly packed, pour in any remaining juices from the bowl. You may then need to add juice from the lemons you have reserved in order to completely cover the wedges.

Place the jar in a warm place for a month, turning the jar every few days to keep the juices circulated and topping up with lemon juice if required. Then place the jar in the refrigerator. The lemons will be ready to use a few weeks after that.

To use the lemons, remove a wedge from the jar, scrape off the flesh, rinse well (remember it is very salty) and cut the peel into fine strips. Use in casseroles, tagines, on salads etc. It goes particularly well with chicken and lamb. I have even been known to use the flesh and a little juice in casseroles to which no salt has previously been added.

 

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