Last year, following a TV food spot, they added the salt to the lemons, slit into quarters but left whole, squeezed a lemon over the lot and topped up with warm water. Tried it and it worked well, BUT, once the jar was started, I didn't keep it in the fridge and eventually before the (large) jar was half used, it looked off, so I biffed it.

Reading since, it seems they should be stored in the fridge once opened. Whoops.

I have just looked at grapefruit as we have heaps (as always) so it appears that most recipes seem to add only salt (some also add sugar) and lemon juice, not water - ever.

Has anyone here tried preserving grapefruit using salt or salt & sugar, and maybe slicing the grapefruit, packing it down well and only topping with salt/sugar and lemon juice? If so, how did it work out?

socram - 2019-06-28 15:35:00

I've been making preserved lemons and limes for many years and have never added anything but salt, sometimes a few cinnamon quills or a couple of dried chillis, plus enough lemon or lime juice to cover if necessary. I keep them in the fridge.

They keep for years but the appearance will change -limes turn pale brown, the lemons eventually darken a little. Aged preserved lemons are regarded as having better flavour but I don't know that I can tell much difference.

I haven't tried preserving grapefruit in this way. I imagine they would keep just as well, but the bitter flavour might be a bit overbearing and I'm not sure in what context you would use them.

davidt4 - 2019-06-28 16:16:00

Preserving citrus (lemons and limes) is something I always intended to do when we had citrus trees and now, being in a new house we don't have any productive trees at all yet. I hadn't thought of preserving grapefruit so I Googled for info' and found the following that you may find interesting:- http://foodgasmguide.com/blog/2017/03/07/preserved-grapefrui
t/

Hope that helps. :-))

245sam - 2019-06-28 16:46:00

I would imagine that using them (grapefruit) in the same context as preserved lemons would be fine. I had googled it 245sam, but not sure that a large jar in the fridge is an economic use of fridge space. May need to use several smaller jars instead of a couple of large ones, as they can be kept in a dark place until opened.

I know we could make grapefruit marmalade but as my annual usage of jams and marmalades is about zero, it seems a bit pointless.

Edited by socram at 6:41 pm, Fri 28 Jun

socram - 2019-06-28 18:39:00

too many grapefruit? cut them in half and pop in garden..little white eyes love them !

Edited by doug57 at 6:56 pm, Fri 28 Jun

doug57 - 2019-06-28 18:56:00

The white eyes still get plenty! We also have kererū happily stripping our hibiscus on a daily basis.

socram - 2019-06-28 19:42:00

Homemade - lemons and salt.

Commercial - (From memory) Lemons, salt, sugar, water, preservative

The taste just isn't the same imo and they are not the same as the 'proper ones'.

Preserved lemons are so simple to make a child could do it.

PRESERVED LEMONS

1. clean sterilised jar with a tight fitting lid - a ploastic lid would be nice but not mandatory. I use jars with clip shut glass lids and rubber seals
2. Lots of lemons
3. A saucer - (yep, a plain old saucer)
4. Non-iodised salt - Cerebos does a sea salt in blue packaging
5. - Optional extra - a glass weight. I use clean glass, flower shaped, tealight candle burners as they are smallish and fit in the jar.

Method
1. Cut lemons into ¼s
2. Save some lemons to make juice with because juice is nicer than water
3. Tip a whole lot of salt into the saucer
4. Dip the cut sides of a lemon ¼ into the salt in the saucer to cover with salt
5. Put into the bottom of the jar
6. Repeat step 4 layering and pressing the lemons in as you go to release some of the juice
7. Keep squeezing lemon juice onto each layer and ensure there are no air bubbles by pressing on the lemons gently
8. When you have positively almost filled the jar with layers of pressed in lemon quarters and have ensure the whole lot is completely covered with lemon juice, put in the glass weight to ensure the lemons remain completely submerged. I find it best if the weight is just slightly higher than the lid
9. Put the lid on and screw tightly if using a screw top lid to ensure that the weight is pressed down hard onto the lemons and is mostly submerged - the liquid keeps the lemons in the necessary anaerobic state where bad bacteria cannot grow.
10a. I just leave the jar upright in a cool place in a container to catch any overflowing juices for 3 days then put in fridge. Use after 3 -6 weeks
10b. OR turn the jar upside down and each day turn it the other way for 3-4 days. Then the fridge for 3-6 weeks.

Note: Lemons will last for years and years in the jar in the fridge so long as they are kept fully submerged because fermentation and preserving requires anaerobic conditions which is what the liquid in the jar provides.

Note: If you use only lemon juice and no water, the liquid turns to jelly. And oh. It is sooo delicious in all sorts of things. I use it as a dressing over fresh garden salads along with thin slices of the preserved lemons. Takes salads into another dimension of taste.

Note: I am still using preserved lemons I made 4 years ago and still delicious.

Edited by buzzy110 at 11:27 am, Wed 4 Jul

Quote
buzzy110 (95 95 positive feedback) 11:23 am, Wed 4 Jul #7

bev00 - 2019-07-06 21:23:00

Keen to have another go at preserving lemons, the last time didn't go too well, I think because I didn't keep them in the fridge.
Question: most recipes state non-iodised coarse salt; I have a large container of pink Himalayan rock salt, can I use that? It was given to me and I am making slow progress through it just as sprinkling table salt so I'd be happy to use it up on lemons.

Any wise advice most appreciated.

patsprat - 2019-08-02 11:13:00

patsprat wrote:

Keen to have another go at preserving lemons, the last time didn't go too well, I think because I didn't keep them in the fridge.
Question: most recipes state non-iodised coarse salt; I have a large container of pink Himalayan rock salt, can I use that? It was given to me and I am making slow progress through it just as sprinkling table salt so I'd be happy to use it up on lemons.

Any wise advice most appreciated.

Personally I wouldn't use any other salt but uniodised salt. I use Cerebos. The reason iodised salt is not recommended is because iodine inhibits the growth of beneficial bacteria and makes it look cloudy (or so I hear). That would defeat the whole purpose of lacto-fermentation. Maybe that would also allow 'not so beneficial' bacteria to grow, but I can't be sure about that.

So based on that I would not use any rock salts at all, because of the 'extra' minerals (calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and potassium) that are supposed to be in them. Also the size of the salt grain is important. The smaller it is the easier it dissolves and it spreads better over the food being preserved, fermented.

buzzy110 - 2019-08-02 16:05:00

Last year I made preserved oranges for the first and last time. Whoever thought that salty oranges is nice (recipe off the net) needs a reality check.

My advice would be to salt a wedge of the citrus you were hoping to ferment and then taste it. If the combination of salt and sweet is just plain wrong to you, don't do it. I wish I had done that with the oranges.

buzzy110 - 2019-08-02 16:08:00

Thanks Bev00, have just done a jar with coarse sea salt and the Tea light glass as per Buzzy’s instructions. Hope the bigger grains of the salt dissolve ok, we’ll see.
So any suggestions about my pink Himalayan salt? It was given to me as an opened packet, guess they didn’t know quite what to do with it either. Just use it as table salt for sprinkling? I see there’s plenty of it in the supermarket alongside regular sea salt so it’s obviously used.

patsprat - 2019-08-04 13:44:00

patsprat wrote:

...
So any suggestions about my pink Himalayan salt? It was given to me as an opened packet, guess they didn’t know quite what to do with it either. Just use it as table salt for sprinkling? I see there’s plenty of it in the supermarket alongside regular sea salt so it’s obviously used.

If you want to use it up, use it to salt the water in which you cook veges. All boiled veges are improved by a goodly amount of salt in the water (say a tablespoonful per medium sized panful) and potatoes especially can take more.

If you cook pasta salt the water - the cooking water should be as salty as the sea.

davidt4 - 2019-08-04 15:09:00