Preserved Lemons

Around this time of year I usually start making some preserves to give away as Christmas gifts. I thought I should try and do something with those pesky lemons of mine and thought that a nice big jar of preserved lemons would make an excellent Christmas gift. My first hurdle was to find a jar big enough to hold the lemons. Then I discovered that my lemons were in fact too big to fit more than about 3 of them in a jar. There was no option but for me to go to the supermarket and buy lemons which seemed completely ridiculous since the whole reason for me wanting to make preserved lemons was to use up my own supply. The lemons I purchased were imported from the US and probably Lisbon variety.

There are lots of recipes out there for Moroccan Preserved Lemons and if you google preserved lemons you'll find plenty of other blog entries but there's not a lot of variation in what you do.

Preserved Lemons

What you need
A very large glass jar with a lid
LOTS of lemons
Salt
A bay leaf or two
A cinnamon quill

Method
Wash and dry your lemons
Cut a little off each end of the lemon
Cut your lemon almost into quarters but leaving one end intact (I really don't see why you can't cut them completely into quarters and if I'd done that I could have fit them in the jar)
Sprinkle each lemon generously with salt
Place in the jar
Fill the jar with lemon juice
Poke the bayleaf and cinnamon quill in the jar
Seal and leave for at least a month before using

To use
Rinse the lemon and discard the flesh
Slice the lemon rind finely and add to your chosen dish be it a tagine or a salad or even muffins like Barbara from Winos and Foodies did. I tried Barbara's muffin recipe and they were delicious.