sweet & sour canned lemon pickle

or...things that make you go hmmmm.



...so i had 2 large and shiny, gorgeous meyer lemons that i picked up at the hawthorne valley farm store when i was searching for citrus for january's can jam. and i had 12 skinned little kaffir limes that were perfuming up my fridge.

(poor little guys, i shoulda took a photo but i dunno seemed a little obscene, all huddled together, just a bunch of vulnerable pith and flesh)

and then there were a couple of questions from some of the can jammers asking about hot water bath canning 'preserved lemons.' oh, and there is one other thing...

my absolute love of indian lemon pickle like this or this. which i always do in the traditional way; fermenting.

so i found a recipe that offered the same flavors and ingredients that i use in making indian pickle yet also had a mixture of salt/sugar/vinegar that resembled what we in the west are familiar with using for our canned pickles.



this photo is before the syrup was added and it looked so good i was tempted to stop here and let it ferment for 8 weeks in a sunny or warm place like a traditional indian pickle. but i persevered and i preserved:

sweet & sour canned lemon pickle

adapted from sensational preserves by hilaire walden

2 large, or 3 smallish meyer lemons
juice from 6 limes (or 12 kaffir limes)
1 & 1/2 inch round of ginger, peeled, thinly sliced and then cut into fine strips
2-3 fresh green chilies, thinly sliced
3 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup sugar
pint and 1/2 pint mason jars

yield: 1 & 1/2 pints

1. cut the meyers lengthwise in half and then each half into thirds.

2. layer lemons cut side up in jar, sprinkling ginger, chilies and salt evenly between each layer.

3. squeeze the limes until you have a scant 1/2 cup of juice, place in saucepan with vinegar and sugar. heat gently stirring until sugar is dissolved. once sugar is dissolved turn up heat and simmer gently until a slight syrupy consistency is reached - about 3 minutes.

4. pour over fruit leaving 1/2 inch headspace. process the jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

5. leave in a sunny or warm place for one month. store for another 2-4 weeks before eating.

i must admit step 5 threw me off, because if it has to sit in the sun or a warm place for a few weeks anyway and a few more weeks after that, then i am not sure what the hot water bath process does. i might as well have stopped before adding the syrup.

(tip: if you do this, squeeze in that lime juice and add 2 tablespoons sugar, put a lid on it and put in the sun for 6 weeks, give it a shake a day - and you will be good to go with a fermented indian pickle)

ahem, ...back to this recipe: when you ferment a lemon pickle in the traditional way, for most, once it reaches it's desired softness you will want to put it in the fridge or it will keep fermenting and turn to mush eventually. because this is canned you will be able to store this in your larder at room temperature before you open it, which of course is the benefit of all hot water bath processed preserves.

so i'mma wait this out - and i'll report back.

...oh and one last thing: i realized how easy it is to can a very small quantity of something. so if you want to try a recipe you are not sure of - do it! i used a saucepan and set each of the two jars on top of a screw cap instead of using the wire rack. like this, see:



and chopping a small amount of ingredients? ...de nada!

i'm not sure about this recipe, but here's my offering: don't look at canning as a big industrious, time-consuming endeavor - it doesn't have to be!