How to Make Moroccan Salt Preserved Lemons

Moroccan salt preserved lemons are so easy to make! This is the best way to preserve lemons, and the whole lemon is used. You just need two ingredients, lemons and sea salt. This recipe takes about 10 minutes to prep, and four weeks of fermentation time.

What Are Preserved Lemons?

Cured lemons have long been a part of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cooking, although most people associate them with North African, and particularly Moroccan cuisine.  Sometimes a plain squeeze of lemon juice on top of a dish just is not enough, and that’s when we want to use preserved lemons. They add BIG flavor. The flavor can be described as extremely citrusy, very floral from the oils in the peels, and full of umami flavors from fermentation. Preserved lemons add a fermented quality that a regular lemons just do not. 

The History of Preserved Lemons

Long ago, as lemon trees spread from Morocco to India so did the want and need to preserve them. Originally, lemons were preserved for the same reason all things are preserved—to store and eat them even when they are out of season. The earliest recipe for preserved lemons is recorded in the 12th-century Egyptian treatise On Lemon, Its Drinking and Use, by the Arabic-speaking court physician Ibn Jumay. Jumay’s 900 year old recipe is almost exactly like the preserved lemon recipes we see today. According to Toby Sonneman’s Lemon: A Global History, the recipe calls for “slitting the fruit and filling the gashes with salt, then pressing them into a jar, covering with lemon juice and letting them ferment for weeks.”

Easy Salt Preserved Lemons Recipe

This is the traditional historical recipe I’ve based mine off of… except I use weight measurements, of course, for consistency. Limes and grapefruits can also be preserved the same way, which is going to lead to all kinds of fun fermentation experiments and recipes this summer. I plan to let mine ferment for a month, then they will keep in the fridge indefinitely. I’ll probably use them all up this summer in salads and light, fresh meals on hot days. I’d love to develop a mediterranean veggie burger recipe that calls for preserved lemons. 

Ingredients and Equipment

• 1 quart mason jar
• knife
• cutting board
• large bowl
• about 10-12 small lemons
• sea salt

Fermentation Conditions

• 20% Salt
• 4 weeks of fermentation
• 60-80°F
• Final pH about 3
• Store in the refrigerator indefinitely

Other Fermentation Recipes to Try

• How to Make the Healthiest Naturally Fermented Garlic
• The Best Lacto-Fermented Green Beans with Ginger and Scallions
• How to Ferment Sauerkraut with Blueberries and Açaí

How to Make Moroccan Salt Preserved Lemons

Print Recipe

Moroccan salt preserved lemons are so easy to make! This is the best way to preserve lemons, and the whole lemon is used. You just need two ingredients, lemons and sea salt. This recipe takes about 10 minutes to prep, and four weeks of fermentation time. 

• Author: Kaitlynn Fenley
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Fermentation Time: 4 weeks
• Total Time: 672 hours 10 minutes
• Yield: 32 Ounces
• Method: Fermentation
• Cuisine: Moroccan

Ingredients

• 1300 grams fresh lemons (about 10 small lemons)
• 250 grams sea salt
• 2 extra lemons for juicing (if needed)

Instructions

1. Wash all of the lemons, and weigh out 250 grams of salt in a bowl
2. Cut the ends off the lemons, then starting at one end, cut each lemon into quarters, without cutting all the way through (see photos above).
3. Over a large bowl, fill the crevices of the lemons with copious amounts of salt.  Fill each lemon with salt until all the salt is used up.
4. Start packing the whole lemons into a clean large jar. A quart mason jar works well for this recipe. You will have to wedge them in as tightly as possible, and lemon juice will be released in the process.
5. Once the jar is full make sure all the lemons are submerged in lemon juice. If you need to, juice two lemons and add the juice to the jar.
6. Place a lid on the jar and allow the lemons to cure at room temperature for 4 weeks. You can allow the lemons to cure for up to a year at room temperature. They will darken the longer they cure.
7. Once opened, store in the fridge indefinitely. Rinse off any excess salt and brine before using the preserved lemons in recipes.

Keywords: lemons, cured lemon, preserved lemon

The post How to Make Moroccan Salt Preserved Lemons appeared first on Cultured Guru.

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By: Kaitlynn Fenley
Title: How to Make Moroccan Salt Preserved Lemons
Sourced From: cultured.guru/blog/how-to-make-moroccan-salt-preserved-lemons?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-to-make-moroccan-salt-preserved-lemons
Published Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2022 15:15:44 +0000