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Sweet and Sour Indian Lemon Preserve

Sweet and Sour Indian Lemon Preserve
 

 

 
This is such a simple preserve to put together and it tastes out of this world. Small Indian lemons are macerated in a golden sweet-salty turmeric liquid for at least two weeks until the whole mixture becomes delectably syrupy. Both kids and grown-ups will love it!
 
Enjoy this lemon preserve with Indian breads like puri, paratha or thepla and rice or lentil dishes like khichdi. It’s also a perfect dip for poppadoms!
 
 

I used small Indian lemons from my local Indian grocers as they are the perfect size for this preserve, and they pack a huge punch. They’re tiny, yet lethal. Rather like myself.

Ingredients

10 small unwaxed Indian lemons
250ml lemon juice
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
2 tsp ground sea salt
¼ tsp turmeric powder

Method

1. Gently scrub each lemon under warm water, rinse and dry.

2. Halve the lemons and put them in a sterilised glass jar.

3. In a small saucepan heat the lemon juice and add the sugar, salt and turmeric and heat until the salt and sugar have completely dissolved. Boil until slightly syrupy.

4. Pour the lemon juice mixture over the jar of lemons and allow this to cool before putting a lid on top.

5. When cool, put on the lid and place the jar in the fridge.

6. Leave the jar in the fridge for at least two weeks before consuming, shaking every day until the lemons become beautifully syrupy and are ready to eat.

 

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For the Love of Jewels....

Monday 26th of July 2010

Would this work with meyer lemons? I have a boat load in my yard and want to use them up!

Pavithra

Wednesday 30th of June 2010

Wow the lemon preserve sounds delicious... Yummy!!!!

Sanjana

Wednesday 23rd of June 2010

KarmaFree Cooking- Those Puerto Rican lemons sound perfect for this! Once the lemons have been preserved for at least two weeks, they will become very soft and delicious. This way you can just dip Indian breads (especially if they're spicy- they would pair very well with the sweet/sourness of the lemons- check out my recipe for puris and paratha) in the syrup, crushing the whole soft lemons at the same time. The sweet juices will seep out and will taste perfect when mopped up with bread. Traditionally this is eaten with khichdi- check the recipe index for a recipe. You can cut the lemons into smaller pieces when you serve them if you prefer. They will be soft enough to eat whole and they get better with time :) Hope this helps! If you have any other questions please don't hesitate to comment or e-mail! Happy preserving!

KarmaFree Cooking

Tuesday 22nd of June 2010

These Indian lemons are just the same as the "criollo lemons" we have in Puerto Rico. They're awesome...

I know you have mentioned you eat this with paratha and such, but HOW?? You eat just the syrup? Do you eat the limes cut into pieces? How do you eat these gorgeous preserved lemons??

astheroshe

Tuesday 22nd of June 2010

I have never seen these kinds of lemons? I am curious about the flavor...next time i go to the farmers market , i will look for them :)