This is a little different take in that you are preserving the lemons by themselves to be used in cooked dishes. We liked the idea of popping open a half pint and using them for cooking with tilapia, chicken, etc.. This doesn't make the prettiest finished product, but anything you preserve is pretty. Right?
The Method:
Slice lemons, cover the bottom of your jars (wide mouth work best) with kosher salt, alternate layers of lemon / salt / lemon / salt, until the jar is full.
The next step is pretty straight forward: Seal and sit.
Over the course of the next three to five days, you will see that the salt extracts the liquids from the lemons.
After five days (the good thing is, if you get busy, no worries), this is your result. Time for prepping for the canning.
Your lemons will come out with a much softer consistency than when they went in. Once you have removed them from the jar, be sure to rinse them thoroughly in order get off the excess salt.
This was an added step. In order to hot pack the lemons, we added them to a large saucepan and added only enough water to cover the lemons. We then allowed the lemons to reach a boil for 5 minutes.
Remove your jars from the water they have been simmering in, fill with lemons and the water they were boiling in. Prepare jars as you would normally, allowing for one inch of head space. Process in water bath canner for 15 minutes (under 1000 ft above sea level) or 20 minutes (over 1000 ft above sea level).
After they have been removed from the canner, cooled, created their seal and stored, use to cook your favorite fish or roasted meat!
Enjoy amazing lemon flavor with your favorite dish!
The Verdict:
Amazing flavor, simple prep and great to have on hand in half pint jars for a delicious meal in no-time! If you love adding some lemony zest to your meals, this is a great way to preserve your next harvest or grocery steal. There is some residual salt taste, but it only enhanced our Lemon Pepper Tilapia. We probably could have gotten more of it rinsed off, but we were a bit concerned about losing too much of the actual lemon due to it's fragile state. Use as fine a colander as possible.
So, we hoped you learned a little bit different about how to preserve lemons. This is going to be an amazing addition to our cooking arsenal and we hope the same for you.
Until then...
Keep
Calm
and
Can
On