"Pickled" Lemons

Lemons & Oranges at the local "Laiki"

Moroccan Preserved Lemons

The dog days of summer are still upon us in Athens, although the city – still somewhat deserted after the August 15 holiday – is now cooling ever so slightly after an interminable period of over-35-degree-Celsius days. In a couple of weeks, a new batch of American undergraduates will arrive at the semester abroad programme where I earn my daily bread, but now things are quite slow. What better time to talk about food?


Every week, only a few blocks away from our apartment, the neighborhood laiki agora (‘people’s market’) is held. Every region of the city has one, the Greek version of a farmer’s market, where vast amounts of fruit and vegetables are available according to the season. Quality varies but is mostly high; in fact, these markets with their marvellous produce were a factor in my wife and my abandoning the fog-bound rock of Newfoundland, where zucchini is sold in pairs under plastic and “vegetable” means potato or cabbage. Right now the stands, sometimes run by the farmers themselves, groan under mountains of eggplant, peaches, and the new harvest of grapes, with a hint of the coming Fall in the form of apples. But I’m not going to talk about these. And I’m not going to talk about Greek food, either, though the best ingredients do, of course, grow here.

Preserved Lemons (what I like to call Pickled Lemons) are a Moroccan condiment that we discovered a couple of years ago when a friend presented us with several kilos of lemons from a tree in her garden. Trawling the internet, we came upon this recipe: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2006/12/moroccan-preser-1/. They are dead simple to make, need no tremendously outré ingredients, last a very long time in the refrigerator (highly recommended), and taste absolutely delicious. The lemon peel is the quintessence of lemonicity without being too salty, since you need so little. There are lots of Moroccan recipes available, but don’t feel confined. We’ve discovered how marvellous they are with seafood. Try making a shrimp pizza with little bits of preserved lemons – you’ll never eat one without them again! Why write about them now? Because we've just opened the jar we put up in March.