Preserved lemons

Although I cook Moroccan food a lot I sometimes find myself restricted because I don't have any preserved lemons. It always seems like a bit of an ordeal to make them but it isn't! In reality it only took ten minutes. Today in the middle of cooking dinner I decided to take the bull by the,eh, lemons and just do it. I sterilised my jar first. I washed it in hot soapy water and I put it in the oven at 120 degrees for twenty minutes. I washed the lemons in warm water to get rid of the wax.

Then I quartered each lemon while leaving it attached at one end.

I put one teaspoon of rock salt into each lemon, closed it back up and placed it into my sterile jar.

Into the jar I also added some black peppercorns and two fresh bay leaves. I added the juice of one lemon and slightly cooled boiled water.

I filled the jar to the top and put the lemon skins from the juiced lemon on top. This is because a white scum forms on top and these can easily be discarded. The scum is harmless. The jar is sealed and put into a dark cupboard for four weeks. For the first week you shake the jar daily. This helps the salt to dissolve.

I'll update this post in four weeks so you can see how it went. Until then!