Preserved Lemons Two Ways

It's citrus season again. There are lots of lemons and oranges in our yard and the yards of friends and neighbors. I've collected a fair number of lemon recipes over the years. Some I've already posted. This post is about salty delicious luscious preserved lemons. I add them to soups, salads, pasta, curries and so on. Here are two versions for making them. One is the more traditional 30 day version and the other is a quick 3 day version. Both are great. And both last a long time in the refrigerator, as long as you keep dirty spoons and your fingers out of them.

Preserved Lemons

5 lemons, scrubbed and dried, more as needed to fill your jar
about 1/3 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, or as much as needed

Quarter the lemons from the top to within about 1/4 inch of the bottom. Sprinkle salt in the cut areas and then close the lemon back up.

Put them in a glass jar - a quart jar works well. Wider mouth makes it easier to get the lemons in. Put some salt between each layer of lemons. Push them down to get juice flowing. Once you have your jar packed, add lemon juice (depending on your lemons, you may want to strain out the seeds from the juice) until the lemons are covered with juice. Leave some air space. Okay to add quartered pieces to fill the jar. You want the jar well packed with lemons, salt and juice.

Place the jar on your counter for a month. Good idea to mark the date on the top of your jar. Shake the jar every few days to keep the salt and juice distributed. Keep an eye on the juice level and open the jar and add more juice as needed so the lemons stay covered.

Once cured, place in the refrigerator. They will keep at least a year, if you keep fingers and dirty utensils out of the jar. Make sure the lemons stay covered with juice, added as needed.

Rinse and remove pulp before using. Adapted from a recipe by The City Cook.

Quick Preserved Lemons

4 lemons (once chopped up should be one cup)
1 T kosher salt
1T packed light brown sugar
¼ t red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf, broken in a few pieces

Slice ends off lemons. Chop lemons into ¼ inch pieces, and discard seeds. Combine lemons and other ingredients. Transfer to clean glass jar. I use one of those french jam jars. Squish down so juice from lemons covers the chopped lemons. If not enough juice add juice until covered. Place plastic wrap directly on surface and press down. Let stand at room temperature for 3 days. Then cover and store in the refrigerator. Keeps from 3 months to nearly a year. No need to rinse these, just use as is.