Lemon Pickle
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and salt the juice
Cut the lemons or limes in half crosswise.
Squeeze the juice into a basin and mix with 2 ounces of white salt.
Put the mixture into a bottle and cork it tightly.
Salt and dry the peel
Sprinkle the lemon or lime peel with 2 ounces of pounded salt and let it sit for 6 hours.
Dry the peel in the sun for 3 to 4 days until hard.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Lemons or limes
- Provide the juice and peel, supplying sourness and aromatic oils that flavour the pickle.
- White salt
- Preserves the juice by drawing out moisture and slowing spoilage.
- Pounded salt
- Draws moisture out of the peel, helping it dry, firm and keep.
The step that matters
Drying the peel until hard. Salt draws water out of the peel, but the peel only keeps well once it is fully dry. Stopping early leaves moisture that can allow mould or spoilage, so the peel should be checked until it is firm all the way through.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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