Preserved lemons, 70p a jar, or 37p if you can get Asda SP lemons

Oct 15, 2013 | 7 comments

Archives

Preserved lemons, 70p a jar, or 37p if you can get Asda SP lemons

Faggots

I bought 5 lemons yesterday and tried the preserved lemons recipe from H F-W’s new book, Fruit Everyday. It was extremely simple and only took a couple of minutes.
For each jam jar you want to fill, you will need 2 lemons and 2 tbslp of salt.
Give the jars a good wash, including the lids and dry them. You will need to protect the lids from the salt, so a square of cereal packet inner or something similar.

 

 

Preserved lemonsThen just cut the lemons into smallish pieces and cram them into the jar(s), tipping in 1 tbslp of salt after the first lemon, then the second tblsp after the second lemon. Put your waxed paper or similar over the top of the jar and cram the lid on. I used coarse sea salt in one jar and ordinary table salt in the other to see if there would be any difference in the finished lemons. I’ll let you know in a month or so!

 

 

 

Preserved lemonsEvery now and again, tip the jar upside down and let the juice trickle through to the lid, then turn it right way up again.
The salt will start to draw the juice out of the lemon pieces quite quickly. You are supposed to wait for 2 days, then top up the jars with lemon juice, but I was impatient, and did it this morning, after just 1 day. I used 60ml in each jar from a bottle of KTC lemon juice, plus 60ml water.
Then just leave them for a month or more, remembering to tip them upside down every now and then.
When you open a jar, you will need to keep it in the fridge, but if you make sure the pieces are kept submerged, they should keep for a year.
Over time, the lemon pieces will darken from fresh yellow to golden brown. The darker ones are prized and many consider them better flavoured.

What to do with them? Use as a condiment and flavouring, much as you would lemon zest, bearing in mind they are now salty as well. Finely chop or slice the now tender rind and add to soups, tagines, salads etc.
Put several pieces in the cavity of a chicken before roasting, or a piece or two chopped small with a breast, and mix with soft cheese.
Try some stirred through soft cheese then use as a sauce for pasta, maybe with some olives. Or with the soft cheese and shredded carrot and spinach, topped with some roasted hazelnuts.
Or the above in a sandwich/pitta/wrap
Sometimes they are pulverised to a paste and kept in a jar in the fridge, then a little can be added to pasta sauces, to pizza toppings, to soups and stews, to couscous, anything really where you might use lemon zest or juice. I haven’t ever used them, but I understand they have a mild, very lemony flavour, different to fresh lemon, but just as good. I’m looking forward to trying them
Here is a post giving several ways to use them.
There two lovely sounding recipes here, fettuccini with preserved lemon and garlic, and a houmous, I will def be doing that one. I will be just whizzing up chickpeas, garlic, a tblsp tahini and some lemon – can’t wait for them to pickle so I can do that one. 😉
You don’t need much tahini or oil to make houmous, it tastes just as good with a little bit.
These would make a cracking gift, a jar in cellophane, maybe as a hostess gift, or in a hamper for Christmas

the lemons I bought in Sainsbugs were 30p each, if you got Asda Smartprice ones, they are 85p for 6, so 14p each. KTC lemon juice is 39p for 250ml
2 lemons per jar, 60p (or less if you can get them)
60ml lemon juice per jar, 9p

Faggots & Gravy

7 Comments

7 Comments

  1. shandy

    😀 They are very dear friends, and also counting their pennies, so I gave them the link to your website. I also gave the recipe for the chickpea tagine we had with it…http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/10/moroccan-spinach-and-chickpeas-recipe.html I substituted with frozen spinach, pasatta, and stale bread, and splashed out 95p for a jar of smoked paprika (but it was so worth it!)

  2. Lesley

    Did you pass on the recipe, or smile serenely 🙂
    It’s surprised me just how many of the recipes here are turning out to be vegan, shows how expensive dairy, meat and fish are

  3. shandy

    We make a lot of Moroccan and Middle-Eastern dishes in our mostly vegan household. I have always lusted after the deli-style preserved lemons but watching the pennies could never justify the cost. I made these following your recipe a couple of months ago. The other day I added some to couscous. The guests raved and asked for the recipe. They taste wonderful, so thrilled I can afford them! Thank you.

  4. Lesley

    I haven’t opened either jar yet, so I don’t know yet. I will be using some soon

  5. cornishchick

    Doing this tomorrow as lemons are on the super 6. Did the different salts make a Difference?

  6. Lesley

    won’t take you that long Phryne, 10 minutes or so 🙂
    Small jars (jam jars) work really well I think. You can give some to people without overwhelming them with LOADS of lemons, you don’t have to use up an enormous jar once you’ve opened one, and it doesn’t cost a lot to make one, so you can do one every now and then, plus of course you can -re-use jam jars and not have to get hold of preserving jars
    I got lots of very old ones once from a jumble sale and happily preserved away using them for years. Then the seals got harder to find, so when I found some, I bought lots of them. I didn’t use them up for several years (I had got quite a few) and they perished before I could – I hadn’t thought of that!

  7. Phryne

    I’ll def. give this ago. Have never tried it before as I didn’t think of cutting the lemons up and thought they’d be too big for a normal sized jar (too much free = wasted space in the jar.

    Ah – another day in the kitchen 🙂 🙂

    Phryne
    x

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Easy Peazy Lemon Squeazy | My Make Do and Mend Year - […] These are really the easiest, peasiest thing I have ever ever done. Mind you, I haven’t tried the end…

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Thrifty Lesley has an associated Facebook Group. Do come over and say hello if you haven’t already joined. I’d love to see you!

I’m a perpetual dieter, and to help with that endeavour, there is now also a Thrifty Lesley dieting group, a lovely, growing community.