On Mon, 07 Jun 2004 11:39:36 -0400, mangodance >
wrote:

>David Hare-Scott wrote:
>
>> The only trick to it is to ensue that there is sufficient
juice/salt to
>> cover the fruit otherwise it will get mouldy, if this happens just
throw out
>> the mouldy bits on top and make sure the rest stays covered.
Adding some
>> inert (glass, pottery, etc) weight on top (inside the jar) to push
the fruit
>> down can assist.
>
>Everything I've ever seen or heard said to pack them down HARD so
they
>don't float up. I had my entire fist down in the cannisters packing
>down the lemons. But they all still float up. If they didn't, I'd
have
>a safe 2" or so of juice covering them. Will they be less buoyant in
a
>day or two? I keep pushing them down but they're up w/in mins. I've
>been scrambling for something made of glass that can go in the top of
>the cannister and add weight enough to stay submerged but no luck
yet.
>
>BTW, All the careful cutting into quarters but leaving them attached
at
>one end was for naught. Many ripped free during the
squeezing/packing.
> It seems to me that it would be easier just to quarter them fully
and
>pack better. Does anyone just use cut lemons?


This may be OT but, in Hawaii, you often saw Lemons in large
Mayonnaise containers on tops of roofs. So I did the recipe one time.
You pack the big jar full of Lemons, then pour salt. No water, no
nothing else. When the jar, after a few months of sitting in the sun
looked juicy and ready, you popped open the jar and had preserved
lemons. I don't know if this was a Japanese recipe or Chinese or
Hawaiian, but as a kid growing up in Hawaii, the jars of Lemon were
every where! Very tasty! Makes my mouth salivate just to remember the
taste. One small bite *yowser*.

aloha, Thunder
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