Lemons

Unbeknownst to Jaap, our Dutch neighbour up in the hills at Mesa do Cume, I scrumped (scrumping: the act of illegally plundering fruit from the tree) his lemon tree this morning.

We’re running fairly low on the preserved fruit and as they take a month to reach fruition it was high time to make another batch.

They’re as easy as pie which by the way refers to the eating of a pie rather than the making of one.

Cut the clean lemons from top to almost the bottom,not all the way through, into 4 parts. Stuff them with coarse sea salt, pack them tightly into a lidded jar and place in the fridge.

After a couple of days, fill the jar with water and return to the fridge.

After 3 or 4 weeks they’ll be ready to use. The finely chopped skin will liven up cous cous or make a simple dressing for fish. A half lemon wil add zing to a tagine. 

Many thanks to Jaap.