Last weekend (on a whim) I decide leave Ballarat behind and finally visit my sister Cat and her husband Ben in Albury for a couple of days. The late afternoon and as dusk approached was a beautiful time to drive through Northwest Victoria to the NSW border.
Gracing the backyard of their super retro 60s styled house (along with a fair dose of concrete) is a huge lemon tree laden with perfect fruit - as well as a palm tree, an orange tree and even a feijoa. It is impossible for me to resist the lure of the lemons and it didn't take me long to convince my sister that our mission for the day should be some op shopping followed by a session dedicated to preserving lemons.
If you're keen to preserve lemons but don't have a backyard source - make sure you try and get unwaxed lemons. Most commercially produced lemons (along with often being shipped in from the USA) are waxed to improve shelf life. Considering how often you see loaded lemon trees that appear to go unpicked - I'd recommend asking around or even knocking on a few 'lemon house' doors to ask about buying excess produce. Offer to pay or bring back the finished product and in my experience most people are happy to share their backyard bounty.
Once we'd picked a sink load of the ripest lemons - we gave them a good wash just to make sure there was no stray bird poo or bugs straying into the jars.
Then it's time to slice - two deep cross cuts so that the salt will penetrate right into the heart of the lemon. While you're cutting the lemons, sterilise the jars that you've washed with hot soapy water and rinsed thoroughly. A hot oven for a few minutes is fine. . .for swing top jars with rubber seals - detach the lids or remove the rings beforehand.
We used Maggie Beer's preserved lemon recipe as a guide
We then packed the lemons full of salt. Use a chunky rock salt if you like, we chose to use a slightly finer grind of rock salt. While you're packing the lemons and placing them in jars, soak remaining lemons in hot water or pop them in the microwave for a minute or so - this will help them give up more of their juice.
Juice enough lemons to fill the packed jars, adding any salt that is left over from the packing process. We were glad that Ben had been juicing lemons and freezing the juice from previous crops as it took quite a lot of juice for the amount of lemons we had prepared. You can add bay leaves and whole star anise into the jars for additional flavour.
So a relaxing but productive weekend in Albury (we also made a batch of quince paste and some fresh duck egg and beetroot pasta) but that's another story. And satisfying to return across the Victorian border past all of the fruit fly exclusions zone signs with a box full of preserved lemons I can be assured don't harbour any nasties.
