My friend Penny has an amazing garden, bearing all kinds of fruits and vegetables and she gave me a huge bag of lemons last week. I ended up preserving them using Stephanie Alexander’s recipe. My trusty assistant was very helpful.
Preserved Lemons
- 250 g course kitchen salt
- 10 lemons, scrubbed and quartered
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 – 3 cloves
- 1 stick cinnamon
- Extra lemon juice
Method
- Scatter a spoonful of salt into a 1 litre sterilised jar
- Tip lemons into a wide plastic tub with remaining salt and mix well
- Massage fruit vigorously and pack into jar, curved-side out, inserting pieces of bay leaf, cloves and splinters of cinnamon stick at intervals
- Press down hard on fruit to release as much juice as possible
- Spoon salt mixture left in tub over fruit. Cover with extra lemon juice, if required
- With a clean cloth dipped in boiling water, wipe neck of jar free of salt and cap tightly
- Let the lemons mature for at least 1 month in a cool spot before using
* I doubled this recipe as I had so many lemons.
The Poppy Files 
Mmm, this is very interesting I need to talk with you at some stage regarding this and maybe a candied version. Lemons…where would we be without them?
Ah yes Lemons – preserving them was actually very easy. A bit messy, but not an ordeal at all. They look great in my pantry now!