When Life Gives You Lemons...

...make lemonade hamad m'rakhad. 

That is, Moroccan Preserved Lemons. Lots of our generous friends turned up on Tuesday for the Pancake Party bearing gifts, and I had a bowlful of leftover lemons. I decided that they would not keep very long 

It is not as if I am like our late Queen Mum, who was allegedly fond of a regular gin and tonic. I decided I would use a few for puddings etc, and preserve the rest.
There was a helpful recipe in the Guardian and so I followed that. I sliced a little from the top and bottom of each fruit, then cut down into 6 segments but the knife did not go all the way down. I was able to open up the sections like petals of a flower and put in the salt. I had two smallish Kilner jar. I was able to get two lemons in a jar, and squash them down, then I cut the third lemon in half [vertically] and that went in. So 6 lemons preserved. 

I put a double layer of clingfilm on the top of the lemons, which had already exuded a lot of juice. A can of beans and some weights went onto that and I left the jars for a few hours. 

When I came back, the level of juice was above the top of the fruit. Other recipes suggest gently spooning a tablespoonful of olive oil on topas an added air-seal. So I did that. Now they are in a cool dark place until about Mothering Sunday [I will turn them weekly] by which time they should be ready to use. Once opened they should keep for up to a year, if kept in the fridge. 

And then they will be used** in tagines, roasted Mediterranean vegetables, with couscous, stuffed inside roast chickens, over pulses, grated into gremolatas ...  
[**the skins only - before use, it is important to scrape out all the pulp and wash off the brine]