I've basically been dreaming about lemon preserves
since Hyun posted about it last year. I've perused grocery store labels, and folks, it just ain't authentic anymore. The recipe linked to seems traditional in the sense that is actually a kraut - a ferment based on a fruit or vegetable that's cut up, mixed with salt to draw out the liquid, and whose resulting brine creates the correct environment for the happy fermentation microbes to grow and do their preserving party. Grocery store ones often are boiled lemons with added chemical preserves. Lame! So I finally got around to cutting up the 4 packs of organic lemons in my fridge and getting those bad boys jarred.
I departed from the recipe in that I cut up the lemons quite a bit more than he does. I also used less salt than he called for and didn't add any other spices (I figure I can do that at time of cooking, if desired). The seed mystery was never solved (see comments on that entry) so I just picked them out.
Excited! Will let you know how it goes.
Ive seen these, read about these, but Im still confused. What does one do with this? How does it not taste uber salty? And why would you pick this over a fresh lemon?
ReplyDeleteWell basically they just have different functions, much like fresh cabbage vs sauerkraut. If you like krauts, or fermented foods in general, and appreciate the tanginess, then fermented lemons may fill your life with a new flavour, yum. Plus it's useful to learn how to preserve things without killing the enzymes & vitamins (eg., without canning), so you can buy on sale/in season. Fermentation now only preserves all of the nutritive elements, but the product is ultimately even healthier, because it's full of wonderful microbes that we need for digestion, immunity, etc.
ReplyDeleteOh and you could rinse the lemon I guess, re: saltiness, but I imagine you'd just use it pretty sparingly.
ReplyDeleteGood example: last night I made a sauce for our chicken with garlic, oil, and some of the lemon - from the jar to which I'd added crushed chilli peppers since taking this picture. It was delicious.
ReplyDeleteWoah! I am intrigued!!!
ReplyDeleteYou could also mix it in with rice--it's like a lemon pickle. You could just eat it straight out of the jar, add to steaming rice, or eat with warm pita bread. mmmmms
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