Fermented lemons are a delicious addition to your pantry. They are really easy to make and are a great way to preserve a bountiful supply of lemons. The tangy and salty flavour is perfect for balancing creamy dishes or adding a bit of an exotic flair to everyday meals.
How to use Fermented Lemons
- Turn your fermented lemons into Indian spiced lemon pickles. They are a deliciously salty and sour pickle that is perfect with an Indian meal.
- I adore Ottolenghi. His food is beautiful, exotic and delicious. I have both Plenty
and Jerusalem (affiliate links) in my cookbook collection. Here’s an adaptation of his recipe for fish kebabs with lemon pickle. - Chicken dishes really benefit from the flavour of pickled lemons, like this Moroccan chicken with lemon and olives.
- Dice them into a Greek salad, pasta salad or quinoa salad.
- Thinly sliced lemons add a bit of zip to a creamy pasta Alfredo, or an olive and roasted vegetable pizza.
and 
(affiliate links) in my cookbook collection. Here’s an adaptation of his recipe for 
Fermented Lemons
Salt fermented lemons are really easy to make. The result is a probiotic pickle that will add a burst of flavour to most dishes. Try them with a creamy pasta Alfredo, or on a quinoa salad. See the section above for more suggestions.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 1 quart jar 1x
- Category: Condiment
- Method: Fermented
- Cuisine: Traditional
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
Scale
- 500 g (1 lb) lemons (around 4)
- 1/2 tsp ground turmeric (optional)
- 2 tbsp non-iodized salt
- 2 tbsp oil
Instructions
- Wash the lemons well, and place them in a small saucepan pot with turmeric and cover with water. Slowly bring to a boil and boil for 8 minutes.
- Drain and allow the lemons to cool.
- Cut each lemon into slices or sections and remove the seeds. They will be quite juicy, so cut them over a bowl to catch all the pulp.
- Sprinkle the lemons with salt.
- Pack the lemons and their juice into a sterilized pint-sized jar with a tight-fitting lid.
- Allow them to ferment for 1 week, turning the jar over every day.
- After fermenting, pour the olive oil over the lemons to act as an oxygen barrier for storage.
- Store in the fridge and consume within a month.
Notes
- Removing the seeds is optional, but it really improves the flavour.
- The turmeric gives the lemons a bright yellow hue and a slight flavour, but it is fine to leave it out.
- I use a standard 500 mL mason jar with a metal snap lid for because it provides the best seal and doesn’t leak when I invert the jar. The metal won’t stop the fermentation process, but the acidity isn’t good for the metal, so I wouldn’t reuse the lid for canning.
- This recipe is inspired by an Indian pickle recipe and is different from the salt-packed Moroccan preserved lemon.
Keywords: probiotic, keto, vegan, gluten free, paleo, whole 30, spring, summer, easy, 2 ingredients
Just made these, and they are the bomb! And they last forever in the fridge.
★★★★★
Glad you liked them!
Is it the film little women that one of the girls goes to school eating plain lemons out of brown paper ?
If so are these the same sort of lemons?
I don’t remember that scene. Clearly, I need to watch that moving again!
Yes you are right! Ok similar film the girls were going to school and one of them had Pickled? Lemons in brown paper and was just eating them straight saying they were delicious. The point was she was showing off because they were shipped from?
Anyone has a clue what I am talking about? It’s really going to annoy me now!!!!!
Right so the film our little sister they pick plumbs prick them in patterns and leave them in jars with liquid the longer they are kept the nicer they are, and they increase with sourness. What are they and do you have a recipe?
My Dads diabetic, and he eats a lot of plumbs for his bowel (He won’t listen to me about food) so I have been looking for recipes with plumbs that have lower sugar content. OK and its another MMmmmmm looks so good I want to try it…… Clearly I have issues and should not watch films with ferments in!
Hum… it sounds like they might just be turning the plumbs into a sort of wine-like ferment, probably with the natural yeasts that are present on the skin. 🙂 You could make a fermented fruit sauce from the plumbs… however, there’s a chance your dad just likes eating fresh fruit!
At about 20mins into little women the youngest girl begs her sister for money for limes and then it cuts for adverts when it comes back she has already been punished by the teacher.
So either I am loosing it or they have cut out the part that she was eating them for some reason? And its limes not lemons? They really need to put a warning on these things it contains fermented foods beware!