Lemon pickles have two ingredients and give dishes a Mediterranean feel – 02/06/2023 – Recipes by Marcão

People tend to associate the verb “to cook” with heat — processes involving fire, boiling water or heated oil. But there are several ways to cold transform food. Fermentation is one of the coolest.

The pickle is a type of fermentation that can be done at home, without special equipment or fancy techniques. The most common is cucumber – industrial cucumber is usually preserved in vinegar, but the traditional method is to let it ferment in brine.

You can make pickles with a huge variety of vegetables, fruits and greens. I propose a recipe for a Sicilian lemon pickle in the North African style, an element present in the food of countries such as Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.

Lemon and salt preserves only have two ingredients (those two) and are super easy to make. It just requires patience, care with hygiene and a dose of common sense.

Patience because pickles take a long time to get ready, something like two weeks or even more. In between, you do nothing but flip the glass every now and then.

Be careful to sanitize the glass – wash it well and boil (the lid too) for at least ten minutes.

Good sense to identify signs that things may have gone awry (it happens!). Throw it away if it starts to smell bad or has any signs of mildew.

After several days, the lemon rind softens and the aromas become more complex. You can eat everything but the seeds.

But it is very salty and strong, so use it as a seasoning in sauces, on chicken or fish, to top up sandwiches, to make risotto or pasta al limone. Gives a Mediterranean air to any dish.

This recipe does not bring amounts, for a simple reason: everything will depend on the size of the glass you choose. Buy lemon with some allowance: you need to fill the jar to the top and cover the pile of slices with juice.

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SICILIAN LEMON PICKLES

Difficulty: easy

Ingredients

lemon

salt

Way of doing

1. Wash well and boil for ten minutes a glass pot and its lid. Remove from the water, with tongs, into a colander.

2. Wash the lemons. Discard the ends. Cut into slices half a centimeter thick.

3. Arrange, on a table, a plate with the sliced ​​lemon, another with a small amount of salt and the glass pot.

4. Take a slice of lemon, sprinkle with salt and place at the bottom of the glass. Repeat the process until the pot is full, trying not to leave air pockets between the slices. Press the lemon slices to make it very compact.

5. Wait two hours. The salt will make the lemon juice, but not enough to cover the entire preserve.

6. Squeeze the remaining lemon and add juice to the rim of the glass. Cover the pot, but don’t screw it on: fermentation will generate gas, you need an escape hatch.

7. Let the lemon ferment at room temperature for five to seven days, turning the pot occasionally to distribute the liquid.

8. After that period, close the glass tightly and store in the fridge indefinitely. Consume from two weeks of that date.

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