Pickled Sunshine

Pickled sunshine lemons have caused a comment stir, so let me tell you more about them!  I first tasted them at our friend Isa’s house. She dices them with cukes, peppers, tomatoes…whatever is fresh and summery.  Her dish is one of my favorites.   She learned from her father how to pickle lemons, and she’s quite generous in sharing them with me.

Over the winter, after my Christmas stash from Isa ran out, I decided to give pickling lemons a whirl.  While I still want to learn her method, the one I did is easy peasy, if a little pricey.

I use this recipe, which is similar to the one I linked in the last post.  It’s important to use organic lemons, since you eat the rind, but you don’t have to use organic (at least I don’t use them) for juicing.  I was ambitious and made a HUGE jar of these. To save money, I’ll use smaller jars and put them on a rotating cycle. Since they take a month to cure, I’ll probably keep three or four going at a time.

Here’s a little secret: pickled lemons are in mad love with olives!  Seriously, you can make almost anything tastier with those two ingredients! I add pickled lemons (diced) to my favorite pizza recipe, and when I roast cauliflower in the winter, I add diced olives and lemons and a smidge of hard cheese as soon as it comes out of the oven. So, so good!  Next time I make panzanella, I’m going to add lemons, too.

There are lots of recipes out there, and they are so easy to make, that it is worth it to pickle a little sunshine!  Let me know if you do and how you use your lemons, will you?