How To Make Fermented Lemons

Author's Bio: Jessie Gutsue, MA, RDN, IFNCP

Have you always wanted to try fermented lemons?

We're going to make some today.

Hi, I'm Jessie Gutsue and I'm a functional medicine dietitian with Oswald Digestive Clinic. If you're interested in more gut healthy cooking tips, check out the link here for our five tips for faster gut healthy cooking.

Let's get started with fermented lemons.

[Video Transcript Below Video - it is the same information]

Why Fermented Lemons?

This thing just makes my mouth water talking about fermented lemons. They're one of my favorite fermentation foods because lemons are so versatile, aren't they? I mean, we use them in so many different applications, so it's a great way to use up an abundance of lemons if they're on sale, if they're looking really good, it's peak season, whatever it may be. And really the uses for fermented lemons are limitless. So if you're new to fermentation, let's talk about a couple of basics.

So fermentation is really where the sugars and food are converted to an acid, and this acid is lactic acid. And you've probably seen on maybe a yogurt container. The cultures that are added to the yogurt are like lactobacillus, so that lactobacillus falls under that lactic acid category.

These are all considered probiotics. I'm sure you're familiar with probiotics because you're here listening to a fermented lemon video and probiotics are the bugs in our gut. There are a few different biotics, there are prebiotics, there are probiotics, and then there are postbiotics.

Types of Biotics

Prebiotics

So prebiotics are the fibrous foods that can feed the gut microbiome. So these are the fibers that help to feed the bugs in your gut, which is imperative to keep them lively and diverse.

Probiotics

Probiotics are literally adding bacteria to your gut, which is really important because our immune system is like 70 to 80% in our gut. So you really want to make sure that it is strong and diverse, which means you want a lot of different species.

One of the great things about fermenting foods versus taking a probiotic supplement in my opinion, is that you don't ever get the same exact probiotics that you're adding because there's lots of variability in the foods and the bacteria that are created when you do this at home. So I love it because though it's not a consistent probiotic, you get diversity and that's really important when it comes to the health of your gut.

Postbiotics

So final one is postbiotics and postbiotics are the beneficial bugs that are, excuse me, postbiotics are the benefits that come from what the probiotics create. Namely, these are like short chain fatty acids, so they're the benefits that our probiotics give us. The list goes on and on.

So let's make some fermented lemons now that you have a handle on what we're about to do. Fermented lemons or are also called preserved lemons.

What Are Fermented Lemons?

So they're, and there are a few different ways to do this. The ingredients are really simple, lemons and salt, and then you can get fancy if you want to add herbs. I personally like to leave mine very basic with just lemons and salt because I use them in a lot of different applications, so I don't want 'em to just have one flavor per se, but peppercorns go great. Or adding sage or adding various different herbs can change the flavor of course, and can add some different nutrients that are also beneficial for your gut health.

But for this, we're just going to keep it basic because these things last for months. So that's another point. Fermented lemons will take about three to four weeks on your counter to ferment, but they'll last a good three to six months in the refrigerator stored appropriately. And the uses, like I said, we'll get to the uses, they're plenty.

Preparing to Make Fermented Lemons

So let's get started. Fermenting our lemons. So I've already washed these. Now all citrus will contain or will have a wax covering. There is maybe a different wax that's used on organic versus conventionally raised citrus. So these ones, I have washed them and I'm just going to cut off the tips and then we'll get cutting.

Now, there are a lot of different recipes online for fermented lemons. A lot of 'em will have you cut the lemon in quarters keeping the last quarter of the base of the lemon intact. And the benefit to this is you can stuff the salt a little bit easier. They're a little pretty in the jar, they look pretty good. And there's thought that maybe the rind helps to further help the, excuse me, maybe the rind helps to ferment it further. So if you're to cut off too much of the rind or to slice 'em up in too small bits, maybe the fermentation doesn't work quite as well.

I don't know. I always do the quarter because I think it's pretty and I find it easy to pack in, but I know a lot of people prefer just quartering or even sixth thing in lemon and toxin in that way. So your choice totally somebody comment if you have a different opinion on that. But for me, I like to keep the quarter base.

So we are going to cut these tips off. We'll rock 'em. Of course, I always like to cut on a flat surface and we'll cut these a quarter of the way through, which will make, excuse me, three quarters of the way through in a quarter inch segments to make like a flower.

So then you are able to open up your lemon like such and I can smell 'em and they smell so good. So I'll set these aside and we will get chopping. One of the benefits of making fermented foods is that you do get a greater bioavailability of nutrients and they also help to digest the food that it's accompanying better because of those probiotics that are in the food.

So like these lemons high in vitamin C, and so you'll get that vitamin C that'll be even more bioavailable when it's fermented. So I've caught all of these into quarters. Again, you're welcome to cut 'em all the way through into wedges, but this method works for me. I love to stuff the salt in and go along like that.

Equipment Needed

Let's talk about the equipment you need to ferment and a lot of people will ferment with a scale. So I've done it both ways with a scale and then just with measuring cups and spoons. And I don't have a preference. I find the scale to be a little too tedious, but I have used it in certain occasions too. I think once you get familiar with fermentation, the scale becomes less necessary perhaps.

So equipment you need, you can use a glass bowl to help mix the salt in or you can put 'em directly into a jar. Now the key here is I find the jar to be pretty important the size anyway, because you want a wide mouth jar and you want ideally a wider base because you're really going to be using some muscle to mash these in and create that brine.

So some fermented foods will use a brine that adds water or some sort of liquid to the food that you're fermenting. In this case, lemons are so watery that they'll create their own brine, and that brine is really important to help keep the food in a safe environment and in a anaerobic environment so that oxygen can't get to the food.

And therefore you don't have any mold growth or inhospitable bacteria. You really want the lactic acid to be the primary bacteria. So we've sanitized our space and that included just washing down with some soap and water. I didn't use bleach or anything.

You do want some native bugs, but you want it to be clean. So jars are important. Bowl is a nice to have. You need a nice knife to cut, you need some salt, some lemons, and either a weight, a scale or some spoons, some measuring spoons.

Intructions for Fermenting Lemons

So let's get started. I've caught my lemons and I like these class jars. I tend to keep lemons around in my fridge for quite a while, just on a regular because I use them in so many different ways. And I like this jar because it is clasps nicely and it doesn't have quite the erosion that sometimes my metal lids get with the jars.

So I would say a tip is definitely if you're going to use a lid on these that is metal, I would try to put some parchment paper in between, which does work a little bit to help from the acidity eroding. But alternatively, the better option would be to use a plastic lid on top of these or if you have it a glass lid.

So to make the fermented lemons, we are going to use about one point a half to 2% of salt per the weight of the food. So these four lemons are roughly under a pound, so they're about 14 ounces. So I am going to use these four and I'm going to use about two teaspoons of salt.

Now the salt here is important because you don't want a table salt that might have some antica because there can be some off flavors. And even worse, you can get some inhibition of the fermentation process altogether.

So to avoid that, use a nice salt. I really like redmond's real salt. It's a really high quality clean tasting salt and it goes, has a lot of good uses. You could measure these out if you wanted, like I said, but you'll end up using about two teaspoons of salt per pound of fruit, and you'll find that maybe not all four of these lemons will fit. Let's see.

So what you're going to do, if I have two teaspoons, I'm going to put about half a teaspoon or so on the bottom just to coat the bottom. And then I am going to salt these.

Now you're welcome to salt these over the bowl and then make sure that any salt runoff gets into the fermentation bowl. You're going to sort of roll that around in salt, and I'm going to put two lemons in here to start.

I'm just salting the exterior and then I'll open it up with my thumbs and my fingers and grab a little salt in. So I've used about one teaspoon. I'm sort of eyeballing what I'm using and I'm going to pop these in.

Now here is where the jar becomes really important. So you want a nice wide mouth jar and you want a nice base, a nice wide base too so that you can use some muscle. This is just a wooden rolling pin. There are specific tools for fermentation.

I find this to work just as well. You also could use a clean fist and go mash in that way. So here's where you're really going to mash those lemons because as you can see, that juice is really flowing now and that brine or that juice from the lemons in combination with the salt will be what helps to keep the fruit submerged. And that submersion underneath the brine is the important part to making sure that your fermentation ends up being successful, that you don't get mold, that you don't get other pesky bugs that you don't want in there. So you really want it to be anaerobic environment, which means without oxygen.

So we're going to mash these in and then I will add the next couple. We'll do that again. I've got about a teaspoon of salt left, so I'm doing get a little bit on the outside, pop a little bit in the center there, and then we'll do the last one here.

Using Fermented Lemons

So there are a lot of different uses for fermented lemons. Like I said, they're going to last three to six months or so in the fridge. And different ways to use them include, you can slice them very, very small finely and add 'em two various dishes like salads or soups or whichever. You can. Also with salads, you can put them in a blender or a pure and puree them into a nice dressing. They go great with that.

So let's put some muscle into this. We're going to create that brine, and you can see that brine is just about over top. I'm going to keep working this now. The salt is really the star in fermentation. Salt is the salt helps to break down the cell walls of plants. In this case, it breaks down that cell wall of the lemon in addition to my elbow grease, and it helps to pull the water out of those cells within the plant, and that helps to create the brine.

So if you let this sit here without me even pushing on it, eventually it would create a brine on its own with a little bit of muscle. So you can let it sit for five or 10 minutes and marinate a little bit, and that'll help the brine creation process a little bit easier too. So you can see there's, there's lots of liquid in here. It's not covered though. So another important aspect of fermentation is making sure that you've submerged it with a weight.

Now, there are a lot of different methods to create for fermentation weights. There are specific fermentation weights like this one I have here in my hand. It's a glass round fermentation weight. So I like these because they're clean. They drop right into a wide mouth jar. The bummer is they don't fit into all jars either being too big or too small.

So sometimes you have to improvise. There's lots of different ideas. But in this case, I like this one the best and we are going to pop this on here, press it down, and then this tap will further keep that weight down. Now see how much space I have, I have about an inch or the full part of the threads of the jar still open. So there will be a little bit of juice that pulls out on occasion. So you're going to, we'll class this over and leave this on our counter for three or four weeks.

So if you would like, you can leave it with a paper towel underneath so that there isn't any juice overflow, or if it is, it's caught with the paper towel. In addition, making sure that you leave a little bit of headspace so that there's room for air to escape.

So this is fermented lemons. It's about as simple as it gets.

We were still going on with different uses for it, so you can use them in different marinades for meats, for seafood, for chicken, it's so good. You can also use it in spreads just like a dressing. You can either mince it up really small or put it in a puree and puree it in with various ingredients. So with roasted vegetables, they're great with marinades, with dressings, with dips and sauces. This is such a great ingredient to have on hand, and it really adds a unique nutrient and flavor twist to a traditional lemon.

So I have some lemons that I've fermented, and they have been, they're a couple months old, but here's what you get. See that brine, it's really, really thick and gosh, this smells good and this lemon, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, that's just heavenly. So that's fermented lemons. I mean, it is like the best thing since sliced bread. It's so good.

So I hope you try fermented lemons. It's a really easy process. Don't let the whole fermentation process overwhelm you. Keep it simple. Just lemons and salt. And if you're concerned about the safety at all, I do recommend I use this because it's me and food safety, but I do like to use these strips. It's just pH strips that you pop in at the finish of the end of the three or four weeks before you're about to consume them and check the pH.

If your pH is below 4.6, then you know that your acidity level is high enough, meaning the pH is low enough to kill off any concerning bacteria like Clostridium botulinum. There are lots of different things that can happen through this process if you don't keep your space nice and clean. And so you're always starting with clean tools, clean hands, clean food, and make it fun. And you have the safety of checking with the pH strip if you need to.

I'll leave these on my counter for three to four weeks, and then when they're ready to go, you simply pull out the weight, pop 'em back into the fridge, and let 'em sit there and use 'em along for three to six months or so, and they will be so good.

You'll be thrilled that you've added them to your diet.

Okay, so I hope you give this fermentation a try.

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Thank you. I hope to see you again next week.

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