Lemon Confit: A Charcutepalooza Add-on

When I was working on my canning book, I called up Joel of the blog Well Preserved to ask whether he had a recipe for Moroccan-style salt-preserved lemons that he felt he had the right to share for publication. There was a pause. Then he asked: "Who owns 'Slice crossways into a bunch of lemons. Bury them in salt. Be sure they don't touch'?"

I never ended up using a Lemon Confit recipe in the book, but I've finally decided to try making them myself. These lovelies have been resting in their salty bower for about six weeks now, and they've reached a very mellow, aromatic flavour without the top note of sourness that you get with fresh lemons. I plan to report back when I use them in something worth writing up.

I have essentially employed David Lebovitz's recipe, which calls for a few spices to be tossed into the jar. There is also a recipe for Lemon Confit in Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn's Charcuterie, and Ruhlman has recently written about it on his blog too.