Preserved lemons are a really lovely and super easy thing to make.  They add a fantastic freshness and zing to dishes. Preserved lemons can be added to rice dishes, tagines & slow cooked stews as well as salads and dressings. Delightful added to fish or poultry too (I love them with with a good roast chook). Play around a little! I think you will love them too!

1 large sterilized preserving jar
10 small lemons (use 5 to preserve and the juice of the other 5)
Sea salt
2 fresh bay leaves
1 cinnamon quill
5 coriander seeds
5 black peppercorns
Boiling water

Firstly ensure your jar is sterilized.

Quarter your lemons and roll each in a little sea salt before adding them to the jar. As a general rule, you would use 1+ teaspoon of salt per lemon and 1 for the jar. Add your extra teaspoon of salt to the jar as well as the bay leaves, cinnamon quill, coriander seeds, peppercorns and then pour in the lemon juice. Top right up with boiling water and put the lid on lid while the water is still hot. Leave for 40 days in a cool dark place, giving the jar a gentle shake every few days to move the salt around.

If you are anywhere near as forgetful as I am, it’s a really good idea to note on your jar the date they were bottled and or the date they will be ready to use.

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 or dice. Once your jar is opened, your preserved lemons need to be kept in the refrigerator.

We had a really wonderful Moroccan cooking class here a couple of weeks ago and we whipped these little babies up in no time. We then added preserved lemons in our two tagines and they really do make the world of difference. I hope you enjoy experimenting with yours.