The other day my local grocer experienced a sudden influx of organic lemons from South Africa. (I know – I like local best too, but as far as I know, Quebec has yet to grow a single lemon, so, alas, they must travel from afar.) So… I made Moroccan preserved lemons for the second time ever. I needed to get away from the jams (more on the cherry and raspberry and rhubarb forays later). I needed a break from the sweet.

Moroccan preserved lemons (adapted from Claudia Roden’s The New Book of Middle Eastern Food)

16 lemons, plus extra for juicing
About 4 tbsp coarse salt per lemon
Spice mixture: fennel seeds, coriander seeds, crumbled dried chili, peppercorns etc.

Claudia likes to keep things traditional and doesn’t add spices. But I like spices. So I brought in a tsp of coriander seeds here, a dried chili there, spreading the little darlings evenly across the jars. I made four incisions (top to bottom) in each lemon,  leaving a half inch at either end, squeezed them and filled each slit with salt.

I sprinkled salt in the jars (clean, about six), the spices, squished the lemons in. Then followed Claudia’s advice. After leaving them in the pantry for a few days to stew in their salty, sour juices, I opened them up again and pressed down upon them, to release more juices, then added more freshly squeezed lemon juice til they were completely covered. In one month their jewel-like skins will be ready for action.