Best Preserved Limes Recipes

PRESERVED LEMONS AND LIMES

Steps:

• Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and drop in the lemons and limes. Simmer for 3 to 4 minutes. Drain. Combine the salt and lemon juice and pour a little in the bottom of a glass jar. Add the lemons and limes to the jar and pour in the remaining salt mixture. Seal tightly. Let stand for seven days, shaking the jar each day to redistribute the salt mixture. Rinse the salt off the lemons and limes before using.

PRESERVED LIMES

Steps:

• Rinse limes; pat dry. Cut off ends and upend on a cut side. Make 2 perpendicular slits lengthwise into fruit to form an X, cutting only three-fourths of the way down. Pack lots of salt into slits and place limes into jar, pressing to compact and release juices. Seal jar; let limes sit at room temperature 12 hours. Uncover and press firmly again to compact. Repeat once or twice daily until limes are softened and submerged in juices, 2-3 days. (If there is not enough juice to submerge limes after 3 days, add fresh lime juice to cover.) Chill 1 month before using.
• Limes can be preserved 6 months ahead. Keep chilled.

PRESERVED LEMONS (OR LIMES)

Steps:

• 1 - Wash lemons well, scrubbing with a toothbrush if you think they are waxed. 2 - Dry the lemons well. I put them on a tea towel in the sun for a couple of hours. 3 - Cut the lemons, in quarters, or eights or as I do - first lengthwise in quarters, then in 1/4" slices. Save all the juice you can, and remove all the pips you can. 4 - Measure the cut lemons into a large clean, dry ceramic or stainless steel bowl. For every 2 cups of sliced lemon sprinkle with a heaped tablespoonful of fine sea salt. Mix well, Add in any reserved lemon juice from the cutting, cover and leave on the counter for about 6 to 8 hours, stirring the mixture every hour or so. Check the bowl. The salt should have dissolved completely, and drawn out the juice from the lemons, and there should be the lemony juices in the bottom half of the bowl. If there is not enough liquid - juice some lemons and add the juice to the lemon slices in the bowl. 5 - Now add in the optional ingredients if you are going to add them. Quantities according to taste.Per 2 cups eg - smoked salt - about a teaspoonful. Cracked pepper - 1 to 2 tsp, chilli and/or ginger slices - up to 1/4 cup of each. (These are just guidelines.)Mix well. 6 - Divide the salted lemon slices into jars, adding an equal amount of juice into each. 7 - Clean the mouth of the jar, and cover with strech wrap before covering with a lid. Clean the outside of the jar. 8 - Place the jars in a sunny area and leave in the sun for about a week, shaking the jar well at least 2 times a day. The lemons are ready to eat in a week. This will keep for a year or more as the salt acts as a preservative. The older this preserve gets - the darker it gets - you will end up with a darkish brown preserve of lemon slices in a salty jelly after about 6 months.