Moroccan Preserved Lemons

Do you have an abundance of lemons at the moment? This recipe give you a wonderful condiment and flavour boost to many dishes, especially African dishes. I love to add my preserved lemons to rissoles along with cumin and other spices.
Preserved lemon is a traditional North African condiment where its sour and salty flavour adds a distinct flavour to classic tagines, roast chickens and other meals. 

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds lemons (preferably Meyer lemons)
• 1/4 cup unrefined sea salt

Instructions

1. Trim the ends off lemons, taking care not to cut into the flesh, then slice the lemons as if to quarter them - keeping the base of the lemon intact.
2. Sprinkle the interior of the lemons with unrefined sea salt then layer in your mason jar, crock or fermentation device. Sprinkle with unrefined sea salt then mash with a wooden spoon or dowel until the rinds of the lemon begin to soften and the lemons release their juice which should combine with the salt to create a brine conducive to the proliferation of beneficial bacteria.
3. Continue mashing, salting and mashing until your lemons fill the jar and rest below the level of the brine.
4. Ferment at room temperature for three to four weeks. Lemons can be kept for one to two years.

Germs for Health!

Fermented Vegies replace beneficial microbes back into our system

Restoring our microbial populations

For millions of years we have co-evolved with micro-organisms. In the last few decades we have found how to kill many disease causing microbes through the use of antibiotics. It has  been a huge step forward in one way....our life expectancy has gone from 60 in the 1930s when diseases like tuberculosis killed many of us-  to 79 or so now, some of which at least may be attributed to the use of antibiotics. However, at the same time, there are increasing epidemics of chronic diseases, causing much suffering and costing billions of dollars, that before were much less common.