Fermented lemons

[calcmandan]

I'm going through a few books from the library. One is called 'the nourished kitchen,' by Jennifer McGruther. I checked it out because it came back from a catalog search looking for kombucha directions. As I read along I encountered fermented lemon (from the book's cover). It goes on to describe how it tastes after a number of weeks fermenting and how the ferment is complete if the rind is tasty.

I'm beginning to wonder how one might use fermented lemons in a dish. I'm already thinking of the juice being used for a merengue pie. Perhaps julliene'd rinds as a topper or garnish. But, the lemons themselves. Any thoughts?

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[medtran49]

The juice is more than likely going to be too salty to use. Had a hard time reading your post because the picture is HUGE. If you only used salt, it will be. Last time I made them, I used a mixture of salt and sugar and we liked them better, though I don't think I tasted or used the juice. I talked about it on another forum with someone else who was making them. Will have to look for the posts because I don't remember the specifics as it's been too long.

Preserved lemons are used in Persian/Moroccan/that part of the world cuisines a lot. They mostly just use the rind and discard the rest, though I have seen recipes that call for the flesh too, minus the seeds.

 

[medtran49]

Okay. Found them. The ratio was 2 parts salt to 1 part sugar. We apparently liked them a LOT more than all salt, but nothing about juice was mentioned.

BUT, another person used just honey to preserve them, as she wanted to use them for honey lemon tea. The lemon juice thinned out the honey a bit and was perfect for her tea. She had found out you can use just about any kind of natural syrup.

Apparently, you can also use just sugar, though you can't keep as long with no salt used.

Someone did mention he made a sort of 1000 Island dressing using finely chopped preserved lemon rind instead of lemon juice. Said it made a wonderful tasting dressing with bright pops of lemon throughout. Even used it as a dip for veges and chips.

 

[calcmandan]

Okay. Found them. The ratio was 2 parts salt to 1 part sugar. We apparently liked them a LOT more than all salt, but nothing about juice was mentioned.

BUT, another person used just honey to preserve them, as she wanted to use them for honey lemon tea. The lemon juice thinned out the honey a bit and was perfect for her tea. She had found out you can use just about any kind of natural syrup.

Apparently, you can also use just sugar, though you can't keep as long with no salt used.

Someone did mention he made a sort of 1000 Island dressing using finely chopped preserved lemon rind instead of lemon juice. Said it made a wonderful tasting dressing with bright pops of lemon throughout. Even used it as a dip for veges and chips.

Wow that sounds great. I posed the same question on usenet and got a large variety of answers. After the BBS I use concludes its daily maintenance, I"ll log in and post their replies here.

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[Sass Muffin]

Wow that sounds great. I posed the same question on usenet and got a large variety of answers. After the BBS I use concludes its daily maintenance, I"ll log in and post their replies here.

calcmandan on echomail/fidonet - Visit me at gopher://gcpp.world

That link goes nowhere.

 

[calcmandan]

That link goes nowhere.

you need a browser capable of surfing gopher sites. none of the mainstream browsers support gopher anymore but one may be able to get a plugin in firefox if youre truly interested.

calcmandan on echomail/fidonet - Visit me at gopher://gcpp.world

 

[LastManStanding]

After 2 years here's some input from me. Salted and preserved lemon is an essential part in Saivar meals. Saivar cuisine is the traditional South Indian meals usually vegetarian.
It's extremely popular in India and other parts of the world where South Indian communities live. You get the rice served on banana leaf, with mixed curries, sambol, preserved lemon, papadam, moru(curd, sliced green chillies, and other spices mixed in water).
The joy of eating that in a shop is, you don't get one waiter to serve you. One person lays the banana leaf in front of you, and then another person goes on serving rice, and another the lemon, and so on. (That's about the popular shops)