Preserving herbs and spices
By Dawn Meredith Crumbleton Farm 2022
In Middle Eastern culture preserved lemons are a big part of cooking with meat. They add an unusual and delightful flavor that’s not essentially lemony, but more like a spice. Sound exotic? I’ll show you how to make them yourself!
Equipment and Ingredients:
· Clean glass jars with rubber sealing lids
· At least 6 large lemons and some extra for juicing
· Himalayan salt· Bay leaves
· Coriander seeds
· Whole cloves
Method:
Step one
Scrub the lemons with a vegetable brush under hot water to remove dirt and stains. Remove stems, slice the lemons into wedges and remove seeds. Juice the extra lemons and set aside the juice.
Step two
Cover the bottom of a jar with salt. Place wedges of lemon on top of the salt until it is covered. Sprinkle coriander seeds, cloves and arrange bay leaves on the sides of the glass. Sprinkle a tablespoon of salt on top. Push down firmly. Pour a little juice to cover the lemon.
Step three
Add another layer of wedges, spices and salt. Push down firmly. Repeat until you have reached the top of the jar. Push down firmly. Sprinkle with salt. Top up with juice. Screw down lid.
Place on a shelf out of direct sunlight for 6-8 weeks. When you are ready to use them, rinse under clean running water to remove excess salt. Add to stews, slow cooker etc.
And that’s it! SO simple. These jars will keep for months, however, I wouldn’t push it to a year. Use them up and enjoy!
It's so easy to dry herbs, even if you don't have a dehydrator. Here's what you do:
Step one
Pick the herbs, removing all the leaves from the stems. Place in a colander and rinse with water.
Step two
Place baking paper on a baking tray and spread the leaves over the surface, being sure that leaves don't cover each other.
Step three
Place in a warm oven, 100C and bake for 2-3 hours, until the leaves are crispy. Remove from oven and cool completely before putting in glass jars. Can be stored this way for over a year.
Step four
When cooking with herbs, remember the dried leaves are more intensely flavoured per gram, so use less than fresh leaves. Enjoy!
With 6 large celery plants I wanted to try and preserve some of it, so I came up with the idea to dry the celery and make celery salt!
Celery is worth growing yourself, because commercial growers use many toxic sprays over the life of the crop, including herbicides, pesticides and fungicides. None of which you need to use at home if you give your plants good soil, water regularly, cover the bare dirt around the plants with mulch and spray seaweed solution every few months.
It's super easy to make celery salt! Here's what you do:
Step one
Cut the stalks from the plant. Remove the leaves. Rinse thoroughly in running water.
Step two
Chop each stalk into small pieces maximum 5mm wide.
Step three
Place a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray. Spread the chopped celery over the paper, being sure no bits overlap.
Step four
Bake in a warm oven at 100C for 3 hours or until the pieces are dark brownish-green and crunchy.
Step five
Cool completely before putting into the blender with pink Himalayan rock salt, approximately one third salt to two thirds celery pieces. Pulse blend until desired consistency. Pop in a glass jar. It will keep indefinitely as salt is a natural preservative, but mine gets used up pretty quickly!
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