If you live in Russia, then pickle cabbage and cucumbers. Well, what if you live in Egypt or Morocco? What would you ferment there? Lemons! There are as many varieties of recipes as we have options for those same cucumbers.
I suggest a pretty simple one. This is a specific and very interesting spicy-flavoring additive, suitable for everything that, in fact, pickles are suitable for.
Necessary:
Cooking:
Rinse the lemons thoroughly, scald with boiling water.
To cut in half.
Halves into pieces of about 5 mm.
Remove bones.
Cut the garlic.
Sprinkle lemons with paprika, salt, add garlic.
Mix. Leave for a couple of hours so that the lemons give juice.
Put tightly in a jar, pour oil on top so that all the pieces are covered.
Not enough in the photo - then I added more so that they would not become moldy.
Leave simply on the table at room temperature for 7-10 days. Then put in the refrigerator.
During fermentation, all bitterness is removed.
Do not expect the same processes as when pickling cabbage - you will not see any gases or foam, lemons pickle very quietly)).
I would advise you to keep them, already fermented, in the refrigerator for another week, and then eat them, so they acquire a complete taste.
What do pickled lemons eat with?
It seems to me that the taste of pickled lemons can be compared with the impression that, for example, olives make on people who have never tried them, at first they may not like it, and then they want more and more.
I just put these lemons on a sandwich with cheese and also drag them from a jar - I really like it)))!
And with fish, and just in some kind of salad - delicious. Naturally, if you don’t like lemons or sour-salty-strong, then you won’t like it, although I highly advise you to make a little for a sample, half a serving.
And don't throw it away right away if it doesn't work for you. Keep it in the refrigerator, maybe they just have not fermented.
as if from childhood, especially since her youth, she ate lemons not with sugar, but with salt. These lemons are something like sauerkraut or pickles in Russia, especially since pickles are not very popular here, unlike pickled ones.
Spoken: Eh...well, it's just you "Russians" like that. Therefore, it is strange for me to talk about an authentic recipe, for example, which recipe for pickling cucumbers or cabbage is correct and which is not. One hostess adds garlic, another horseradish leaves, a third root, and a fourth hot pepper. One cabbage tears with burdocks, the other with carrots and finely, and the third with quarters. Likewise with lemons.
There are ways of salting with quarters, there are halves, and you can also use half-ring rings. Available with or without lemon juice. The time of their readiness depends on all this, from a week to a month. I salt them the way my second cousin's husband, a sultry eastern native Israeli, does. The recipes in my books (in Syrian, Moroccan and Israeli cuisine revolve around the same thing, and differ mainly in seasonings and cut sizes). Sometimes they are loaded into jars in layers with salt and garlic, and sometimes they are salted and allowed to lie down. I like to cut lemons in half rings: they ferment faster, and it’s more convenient to use later, and then you don’t have to cut a wet product that slips out of your hands.
So the recipe...
Main Ingredients
1 kg ripe, yellow, preferably thin-skinned lemons (about 9 pieces)
70gr. coarse salt (3-3.5 tablespoons with a slide)
Olive oil
Additional Ingredients:
Garlic
sweet paprika
Hot dried pepper, or hot Yemeni spice khug, or hot paprika - Amount as desired
Possible additives:
cardamom seeds, thyme, cloves, bay leaf, oregano, black pepper, onion...
In addition to salt, I use only sweet paprika, khug or hot pepper and garlic. But she cited possible additives found in my books and on Israeli sites for those who want to dream up. Lemons are now everywhere, so you can experiment with small jars. In one book there is a recipe for long pickled lemons, about a month. If anyone is interested, I can translate. It is written that according to this recipe they are exceptionally tender.
Wash the lemons thoroughly with a brush and scald with boiling water. Cut in half lengthwise and then into slices about 1/2 cm thick. If the lemons have a lot of seeds, partially peel them.
Separately, mix salt with paprika, add lemons, add other seasonings as desired and mix the lemons thoroughly with your hands so that the salt is distributed.
Leave for an hour or two so that the lemons give juice and then tightly fill a pre-prepared clean scalded jar with them, pour over the juice that has been released and pour olive oil on top, about 1 cm in a layer, to prevent mold. If there is not enough juice, then squeeze the juice from the lemon and add to the top. Close tightly, shake and wait
After a few days, look, and if the lemons have settled, then add freshly squeezed lemon juice. The lemons should be ready in a week or two. Ready to put in the fridge
The only problem for me with salting is that I start trying the very next day, and after a week there are no more ready-made ones left.
Ideas with additives partially
Anticipating the description of the recipe, I will say that sour fresh lemons will not replace spicy pickled ones. Salted lemons are so beautiful that after the very first jar they are credited, they move from the category of exotic dishes to ordinary ones and get a permanent residence permit in the refrigerator. In mine, at least, they did. In our family, they are used for meat and fish, for salads, and just for bread with cheese and ham.
In the Middle East, lemons are sour in different ways. Common to all recipes is lemon and salt. Additional ingredients are spices, and here everyone chooses what he likes: hot pepper, sweet pepper, garlic, cardamom, oregano, mint, fresh and dry bay leaf. Olive oil is necessarily used, mainly for sterilization purposes.
Lemons are sour whole and in pieces, large and not very large. Long fermentation methods (1-2 months) and express methods are known. Today I will show you a quick starter of lemons with a little spice.
Preparation time: 30 minutes + 1-3 days / Yield: 0.75 l jar
Wash the lemons thoroughly, trying to clean not only dirt, but also wax. Rinse with boiling water. Then cut across as thin as possible, 3-5 mm.
Chop the pepper, first remove the seeds and partitions.
Place the lemons in a bowl, season with salt, pepper, paprika, oregano and cardamom. Mix well.
Pack the lemons tightly into a clean, dry glass jar, tamping them firmly with your fingers to fit as much as possible. You will see that lemons give juice. Choose a jar of the appropriate size - it should be filled to the top.
Put the jar on the windowsill, to the light. During the day, quite a lot of juice is formed there, the lemons will begin to “squish”. If this does not happen, add more juice by squeezing the fruit specially prepared for this purpose.
Pour vegetable oil on top (I use olive oil). Shake the jar to drain the oil, then add more. Oil should be added in such a way that the lemons are completely hidden under it, then they will not get moldy.
That's all. Now we have to wait a bit. Lemons, cut into thin circles, ferment from 2 to 7 days (depending on the maturity of the lemons). It is recommended to shake the jar a couple of times during this time so that the oil and seasonings are evenly distributed.
It is said that the most ripe lemons should be washed well and then cut lengthwise into quarters - not completely, so that they hold together at the base. Pour a lot of salt into the cuts and place the lemons very tightly in jars. After a few days, the lemons will become limp and should be further tamped down so that they are completely covered in the salted lemon juice. If lemon juice is not enough, then it should be added. After a month, salted lemons will be ready to eat.
What is the problem here? Yes, it’s very simple: what they do in the Maghreb is better to call pickled lemons, not salted ones. The preservation of these fruits and the development of a special flavor occurs as a result of lactic acid fermentation. Lactic acid bacteria cannot grow in the presence of high salt concentrations, much less in an acidic environment consisting of pure lemon juice. Accordingly, the taste of such lemons is far from Maghreb standards :)
In short, I figured everything out. I talked with Algerian and Tunisian grandmothers. I discussed it with Moroccan men - their grandmothers didn’t get in my way. It turns out that the traditional recipe is even easier to make!
Thanks eryv for the recipe and information.
1) Lemons are needed slightly unripe. The peel of these lemons has a higher content of aromatic substances - terpenes. They will be responsible for the taste of the final product.
2) Lemons need to cut a small and hard part in the place where they are attached to the tree.
Prick the cutout twice with a knife. The pins are perpendicular to each other.
3) Prepared lemons should be placed freely in a container where pickling will take place. It is convenient if this container has a hermetically sealed lid. Then the lemons are poured with a rather weak brine - 120 grams of "kosher" salt (without iodine) per 1 liter of filtered water, plus 2 tablespoons of sugar.
In theory, this is already enough, but the fermentation process is significantly accelerated if you add sprigs of fennel or dill, olive leaves or green peppers to lemons. The fact is that lemons are washed very carefully, and such sterility leads to the fact that the initial concentration of the "correct" bacteria is low.
4) Now, the lemons are covered with a saucer (so that they are always immersed in the brine) and the container is closed with a lid. Just not tight, otherwise it can break with gases. Lemons stand for several weeks in a warm place. In my case, full flavor develops in 6-7 weeks.
5) There are no difficulties with fresh lemons, but with store-bought ones, mold sometimes appears on the surface. Mold is not dangerous - it also occurs when pickling cucumbers. You can simply remove it with cheesecloth or blot it with a napkin. I like the other way - every few days, screw the lid tightly and shake the container with lemons. Salt water will kill possible fungi. Ready-made lemons keep for months in the refrigerator without any problems.
Let's talk about flavor. The pungent lemon smell comes from a small terpene molecule called "limonene". This molecule is rather unstable, and its conformation, structure changes depending on the conditions. The change in structure, as a result of fermentation, leads to a completely new smell. If an inexperienced person, blindfolded, is allowed to smell (taste) a Maghreb salted lemon, then he probably will not be able to determine what it is. The lemon smell completely disappears, and a complex aroma appears in which the main shades will be the smell of bergamot, juniper, black pepper, cardamom. The combination is very unusual, but insanely delicious :)
Therefore, when the lemons are ready, several pieces are eaten at once. And you can even without bread.
This is what the finished lemons look like.
They become soft with a noticeably transparent skin.
Recipes use both the pulp and the zest. They get a slightly different taste - the zest causes a funny and pleasant tingling of the tongue. Like Russian vigorous cucumbers, if anyone knows.
Brine can also be used in recipes, but I prefer to make drinks based on kefir-yogurt from it. I just mix it to taste - it turns out an excellent drink, especially in the heat.
And in conclusion, the simplest Tunisian recipe:
Roasted sweet pepper strips, salted lemon peel, capers, olive oil. Beauty, and nothing more is needed in the morning!
And if you have just started learning English or just want to improve your knowledge, then I advise you to look at the link, there you will find all the exercises necessary for this, for example, what is " indirect question"and how to install it. I recommend it!
