Salted Lemons and Limes

I love this idea from Anna at The Veggie Tree of preserving lemons and limes for the warmer seasons when they are less abundant. You’ll be extra pleased to have them on hand when a recipe calls for a squeeze of lemon and you don’t have to pay over the odds for one at the supermarket. The best part is there’s minimal preparation involved and apart from the citrus all that’s needed is salt and jars.

Do you have an abundance of citrus at the moment? I always get a bunch of lemons and limes salted up in jars at this time of the year for when they aren’t so abundant. It intensifies the flavour and preserves them for over a year. Yes it looks like a ridiculous amount of salt, but it doesn’t need to go to waste once you’ve used the citrus, as you can use it to flavour and season dishes and drinks similarly to using the salted citrus. As the salt intensifies the natural flavours of the citrus, you don’t need to use much in a dish to give it a flavour hit! The salt is essential for preserving the citrus, they also ferment a little. Some like to rinse the salt off before use.

Salted Lemons and Limes

This is a loose recipe so you can utilise what you have on hand. Use any size jars you have, wider mouthed jars are easiest to get the citrus in and out of but it is not essential.

My method is to cut each fruit in half and pack them cut side out into large clean sterilised jars, filling the spaces with natural sea salt until you reach half to three quarters of the way up the jar. Then top up the jar with freshly squeezed juice to start to ‘melt’ the salt.

Make sure all the citrus are under the salty liquid, leave a couple of centimetres of space between the mix and the top of the jar as they will ferment a bit in the beginning which will push the liquid up and out of the jar.

Cover with a lid and leave in a warm spot for a good month, shake the jar every couple of days for the first week or so. Liquid may come out when you do this. Remove the lid and clean the salt off especially if your lids are metal as the salt will react with it and create rust.

Salted lemons and limes can be used as follows:

In a Moroccan style Tagine dish

Added to hummus or couscous

Into a stew or soup for a tasty citrus note

Made into a East Asian style curry paste

I add them to my hot sauce condiments

You can even use the salty, lemony liquid to add flavour to drinks or as a substitute to adding salt & lemon to dishes.