Pickled Limes

Last year I experimented with several ways to pickle lemons.     They were all fabulous and we use them all. 

This year I decided to do some pickled limes.    We used the easy Moroccan style method of pickling - just slice them up and put them in a jar with layers of salt in between.  Then squeeze lime juice over them all to fill it up and let it sit in a window for a few days to pickle.   

Pickled limes have been around for a long time.

James Lind, a Scottish surgeon, documented the use of citrus fruit to treat scurvy in 1753.   After several decades the British navy began requiring sailors to have a daily ration of citrus to prevent the disease.   Limes were more readily available than lemons, so they became the citrus of choice on ships.  Hence, the nickname 'Limey' for British sailors.    Wiki rumor has it that once it was found that lemons were a better treatment for scurvy, that fact was a closely guarded military secret.  A navy that used lemons was stronger than the British navy that used West Indian limes.  [No documentation of that rumor, but it's a great story.]

Limes were pickled to preserve them for long sea voyages.  But they were made and used at home, too.   Louisa May Alcott's book, Little Women refers to Amy's love of pickled limes that she purchased from the store.

Linda Zeidrich, who wrote my favorite pickling book The Joy of Pickling said this:

“There they were sold from glass jars on top of candy-store counters, and some families even bought them by the barrel. Because the import tariff for pickled limes was quite low – importers fought to keep them classed as neither fresh fruit nor pickle – children could buy them cheaply, often for a penny apiece. Kids chewed, sucked, and traded pickled limes at school (and not just a recess) for decades, making the limes the perennial bane of New England schoolteachers. Doctors tended to disapprove of the limes, too; in 1869 a Boston physician wrote that pickled limes were among the “unnatural and abominable” substances consumed by children with nutritional deficiencies.” Parents, however, seemed generally content for children to indulge themselves in the pickled-lime habit.

 Here's another site that talks about the history of pickled limes: Food Timeline  includes this recipe for pickled lemons from 1747:

"To pickel LEMONS.
Take twelve Lemons, scape the with a Piece of broken Glass, then cut them cross in two, four Parts down right, but not quite through, but that they will hang together; then up in as much Salt as they will hold, and rub then well, and strew them over with Salt. Let them lay in an earthen Dish for three days, and turn them every Day; then slit an Ounce of Ginger very think and salted for three Days, twelve Cloves of Garlick parboiled, and satled three Day, a small Handful of Mustard-seeds bruised, and searched through a hair-sieve, some red India Pepper, one to every Lemon; take your Lemons out of the salt, and squeeze them very gently, and put them into a Jar, with the Spice and Ingredients, and cover them with the best White Wine Vinegar. Stop them up very close, and in a Month's time they will fit to eat."
---The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, Hannah Glasse, facsimile 1747 edition [Prospect Books:Devon] 1995 (p. 133) 

Sounds kind of good. I may have to try this with lemons and with limes.

Blueberry Lime Jam

We ran out of this jam.   It's K2's favorite.   She eats it on almost everything.

There was weeping.

There was wailing.

There was general consternation.

So I made more.    It's what moms do.  






Here's my typical recipe for a single batch of jam.    This generally makes about 2.5 pts of jam plus a bit.

Blueberry Lime Jam- small batch

• 4 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
• 1 cup water
• zest and juice of 1 lime.
• 3 T Ball or Dutch-Jell  low sugar pectin
• 3-4 cups sugar

Combine the fruit, water, lime juice, zest and pectin.  Bring to a hard rolling boil that you can't stir down.   Boil hard for 1 minute.  Add the sugar.  Return to a hard rolling boil.   Boil hard for 1 minute.  Ladle into jars.   Process 10 minutes for canning.  

However.    And it is a big However.

Yesterday I was all out of my Ball and Dutch-Jell low sugar pectins.   I did have a box of Mrs. Wages low sugar pectin that I picked up to try last time I was at Freedom Country Store in Worthington - it's our local Amish store.

One package of that stuff will gel 12 cups of fruit.   I had 15 cups of fruit and wanted only a soft jell, so I did four batches at once with one package of Mrs. Wages.     Worked perfectly.    Here's what I did:

Blueberry Lime Jam - with Mrs. Wages Pectin

• 15 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen [around 2 bags of frozen blueberries]
• 4 cups water
• zest and juice of 4 limes.
• 1 package of Mrs. Wages pectin.
• 12 cups sugar

This batch made 10.5 pints of jam.     I used my regular method of jam making.

1.   Combine the fruit, water, lime juice, zest and pectin.
2.   Bring to a hard rolling boil that you can't stir down.   Boil hard for 1 minute.
3.   Add the sugar.
4.   Return to a hard rolling boil.   Boil hard for 1 minute.
5.   Ladle into jars.   Process 10 minutes for canning.  

I've been thinking a lot about pectins lately.   I'm doing a cost-comparison post and will have that up soon.

Citrus Sugars

I showed you the citrus salts I made a couple of days ago. 

Well.

I made some citrus sugars at the same time.    Because if you're going to zest one lime, you might as well zest another.   And another.   And then a lemon or two or three while you're at it.   And then stir that zest into sugar and make yourself a jar of lemon sugar and then a jar of lime sugar.

They're so good. 

Have I said that before?


For the sugars, I decided to use a whole cup of sugar for every fruit I zested.    The flavors were more delicate that way.

Delicate is good.   Sweet and delicate is even better.

Here are some ways you can use these citrus sugars:

• In drinks of all sorts - like tea!
• Sprinkle on cookies
• Sprinkle on muffins
• Sprinkle on top of frosting for a citrusy sparkle.
• A spoonful in a glass of  sparkling water is delish!
• As a substitute for plain sugar in shortbread or spritz cookies. 
• In puddings
• Sprinkled over fruit kabobs
• In candied sweet potatoes

Citrus Sugars
www.rurification.com

•  zest of one fruit
• 1 cup sugar

Mix the zest and sugar together in a jar.   Shake until well combined.   Will keep indefinitely.   But don't kid yourself - it's not going to last all that long.

Citrus Salts

I saw these over at Food in Jars and was instantly smitten.

Smitten, I tell you!

And since I've been making marmalade and stuff, I thought I'd give them a whirl. 

I made lemon salt and lime salt. They're so good.  

All you have to do is zest the fruit and mix it with salt.     I used the zest of 1 fruit and mixed it with a half cup of salt.

The zest makes the salt sort of damp, so I tried letting the zest dry out for a while to see if it made a difference.   It didn't.   The salts work great just like this - no fuss, no muss. 

Here are a few ways to use the salts:

• adult drinks
• grilled meats
• skillet seafood and meat dishes [Loved it on pork.]
• potatoes  [Lime salt on sweet potatoes!]
• oven fried chicken
• steamed vegetables 
• popcorn
• pasta

Citrus Salts
www.rurification.com

• Zest of one lemon or lime
• 1/2 cup salt

Shake the zest and salt together in a jar until well blended.   Enjoy!  They'll keep for a very long time and make great gifts!

Mango Bay Lime Jam

The mangoes are still beautiful and I've got a lot of simple herb syrups to use in jam.   It's time to use them together. 

Mango Lime Bay Jam sounds like a party in a jar, doesn't it?

Dude. Break out those steel drums!

I used some of my bay syrup to flavor this jam.  All you do is substitute the syrup for some or all of the sugar in the recipe.    Simple.   Just like the syrup.

You can also use bay syrup to flavor your favorite drinks - alcoholic or not.   A spoonful of this stuff in fizzy water will do wonders for your stress level.    I know.

Coming up later in the week, we'll have Double Lemonade Jelly and Apricot Anise Hyssop Jam.

Mango Lime Bay Jam

• 4 cups chopped and crushed mango
• 1/2 cup [or more] of cold water so that the mango doesn't stick to the pan when you start heating things up.
• 4 Tablespoons Dutch Jell All Natural Lite pectin
• zest of 1 lime
• 1 cup bay syrup

Combine the mango, water, lime zest and pectin in a pot.  Stir well to dissolve the pectin.   Bring to a boil.  Stir constantly until you have a full rolling boil that you can't stir down.   Stir constantly.  Boil for 5 minutes to boil out some of the extra water.  Add the syrup and return to rolling boil.  Stir constantly.  Boil for 1 minute.  Ladle into jars.  Process for canning.  Makes 2.5 pints.

Blueberry Lime Jam

Our local blueberry crop failed this year due to a late frost.   Not to worry, I bought my blueberries frozen from Sam's and we're filling up the freezer slowly, a few bags at a time, as long as the season lasts.   I used the frozen berries for this year's batch of Blueberry Lime Jam, which was a huge hit with K2 last year and which is quite fabulous on ice cream, if I do say so myself.



Blueberry Lime Jam

• 5 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
• 1 cup water
• zest from 1 lime
• juice from 1 lime
• 3 Tablespoons Dutch All Natural Lite pectin
• 2 cups sugar

Put the berries, water, lime zest, lime juice and pectin in a large pot on.  Heat and stir until it reaches a hard boil.   Boil hard for 1 minute.   Add sugar and return to hard boil.  Stir continuously.   Boil hard for 1 minute.  Ladle into jars.   Process for canning 10 minutes.   Yield 2.5 pints.

Note:   You really do need the lime zest.  I've tried it with and without.  The zest makes a pretty big difference in flavor.  Plus, it's just so pretty.