This recipe is pretty much just 2 ingredients. Lemons and powdered sugar.

About the recipe

This is a recipe from Russia shared by my friend Iya. She suggested this preserved lemon recipe when she came over one day and saw the bounty of over 100 lemons I had in a big bowl.

 The back story

Iya shared her story of how back in Russia her Mom would make preserved lemons with sugar in mason jars and keep it in the refrigerator over the winter months until the lemons became tender. On days when Iya was sick her Mom would make a warm tonic with preserved lemon syrup that did wonders for a child who was ill. Iya encouraged me to give it a try and I thought why not? While I was at it I made another preserved lemon mason jar with another great ingredient for our health – ginger. Here is the recipe.

Preserved Lemons with Powdered Sugar
recipe courtesy of Iya

What you need:

• 2 mason jars
• 3-6 lemons depending on the size of the lemon. Cut lemon into thin slices. Set aside.
• Fresh ginger about a 3-inch piece of ginger root. Peeled and cut into thin wide slices. Set aside.
• 1/4-cup sugar or powdered sugar.

Preparation:

• Wash and sterilize mason jars.
• Place one slice of lemon in jar, then sprinkle 1 tbsp powdered sugar. Alternate this process until mason jar is full.  For the ginger version just add ginger slices with the lemon slices.
• Close the jar and keep in the refrigerator for 2 months to allow the lemon including the rind to soften.

• In two months the preserved lemons should be tender. When I tried my preserved lemon they basically fell apart in my spoon. The entire lemon including the skin was tender as butter and super delicious!  It tasted like a soft sweet lemon candy.

Lemon Sauce

The tender lemon and rind can be blended into a sauce to use as compote. In a blender just place the preserved lemons including the sweet juice and add 1/2-cup sugar. Blend to form a thick sauce.  Place back in mason jar and use lemon sauce as needed as compote or for toppings on pancakes and over Greek yogurt and granola.

A few lemony recipes to try

Lemon Ice Cream I made lemon ice-cream with the lemon sauce which tasted amazing.

Lemon Pound Cake A very delicious way to use sweet preserved lemons is to make a moist lemon pound cake.  I chopped up a few of the soft lemon slices and added them to my pound cake batter along with a little of the lemon syrup.

Preserved lemons a great way to use the bounty of lemons

Have lemon trees dripping with lemons?  Give these preserved lemons with powdered sugar a try.  The best part of this recipe is that you can use the entire lemon.