How to Preserve Lemons

Published on Thursday, April 22, 2010, by CHOW Video Team / Edit Post

How to Preserve Lemons

Lemon trees are generous with their fruit, and you’ll want to go beyond lemonade. Author and urban gardener Maria Finn shows a quick and easy method for preserving lemons.

CHOW Tips are the shared wisdom of our community. If you’ve figured out some piece of food, drink, or cooking wisdom that you’d like to share on video (and you can be in San Francisco), email Meredith Arthur and tell us what you’ve got in mind.

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POST A COMMENT |11 Comments

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  • What do you do if you develop a skim of mold on top of the jar???

  • I think it´s a good tip But please!!!! someone tell that woman that she MUST brush her nails before preparing food!!! look at all the dirt under them. Come on!

  • This is a good basic recipe. But the idea that this is just another way to preserve your lemons is way off: This produces a distinct flavor that is often called for in MidEast cooking, in which they are rightly called simply salted lemons. I own no fruit trees and lemons seem to be awfully expensive these days, yet I keep a 2 qt. (former pickle) jar full of these in the back of my fridge. They...+READ

    This is a good basic recipe. But the idea that this is just another way to preserve your lemons is way off: This produces a distinct flavor that is often called for in MidEast cooking, in which they are rightly called simply salted lemons. I own no fruit trees and lemons seem to be awfully expensive these days, yet I keep a 2 qt. (former pickle) jar full of these in the back of my fridge. They last practically forever. If you want a definitive recipe consult Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian.

    AMENDMENTS: The proportions are 2lb/9T salt --i would only use kosher (for taste) and therefore use about a 1/ 3 more. Lemons should be scrubbed, hard, with a bit of diluted dish soap. Rinse, rinse, rinse.
    Rub salt in all cavities and remove all accesible seeds .
    Screw on lid. Set out for a week in an indoor, warm place that ideally gets a little sunlight. Shake, shake, shake every day. Store in back of fridge.

    I use this pretty adhoc, in stir -fry dishes--especially in any dish that involves pork in any green bean dish, even just a quick saute (add Worchester, soy, hot pepper?).

    Anyhow, traditional recipes call only for the rind. In those cases I have found it's good to do that, but save the pulp for bean dishes, even dried.-COLLAPSE

  • I'm curious as to how to use the preserved lemons...Any more tips? Do you just eat it as-is with say, the meat?
    Yes, her nails look stained, but she could have had her hands in chocolate, or paint or even gardening the day before. Some of those dratted stains refuse to come out no matter how you scrub.

  • @digkv

    Are you sure about the lactic acid? I know it's true for sauerkraut but lemons are high in citric acid which is what is used for the pickling.

  • I'm going to assume she's been in the test kitchen all day and the stuff under her nails is chocolate from an earlier demo.

  • OMG...and here I was thinking that I might be the only one to be critical enough to make a major point about what SHOULD'VE been part of the preparation: her disgraceful fingernails!!!

  • nails aside you can't preserve in a fridge! What's supposed to happen is that you are encouraging microbial growth by allowing it to preserve, the microbes release lactic acid causing a fermentation process, this is what makes lemons "preserved". If you put it in the fridge the microbial growth can't take place because the temperature is way too cool!

  • I had to look at the video a second time to inspect her nails - ugh. Very nasty-looking.

  • gross!

  • clean finger nails are important!