You might recall that a couple of months ago I bottled some limes…
Sadly, the sweet lime pickle (right) was an absolute disaster, fizzing and fermenting like crazy after a couple of days. The fruit never actually went mouldy, but it did develop an off bitter flavour after its specified curing time. Tragically, not even the worms would eat it.
The traditional salt preserved limes though, were a complete success. After eight weeks in the jar, they’re soft, salty and absolutely delicious…
I took this close-up so you could see how the rind and pith have become a little translucent – an indication that the limes are ready to eat.
. . . . .
Our other long term project was an experimental batch of plum liqueur, which we assembled at the end of March. It was made very simply from plums, sugar, vodka and brandy.
It’s now been three months, and the liqueur was strained and bottled today. It’s quite sweet, very plummy in flavour, and perhaps a little too easy to drink – perfect for after dinner sipping!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
I love those bottles, you could have a label saying “For Medicinal Purposes Only” on it. Don’t think you would fool anyone for long though :)
And those salted limes look like a total success too!
lovely! would love to try some. maybe i’ll dare to make it in the near future. cheers!
Hi,
Forgive my ignorance…but what do you use the traditional salt preserved limes for.
They are beautiful…and was wondering what am I missing in my life.
Your plum liqueur looks and sounds like it is a real hit!
Hugs,
Jude
Jude, they’re traditionally used in North African cuisine – here is a wonderful recipe from Morocco. I do tend to put them in everything though. I remove the flesh, then wash the rind before slicing finely. It’s an interesting flavour – perhaps a bit of an acquired taste, so definitely worth tasting first before you try and make them! :)
Cheers, Celia
I guess two out of three isn’t bad going, but what a shame about your sweet lime pickle. I will be having a go at the other one though. The plum liqueur looks great too, but I would have left it for a lot longer before bottling to get even more of those plummy juices extracted. I usually leave my fruit liqueurs for at least 6 months and a year if I can manage it.
Jo, that’s funny you should say that. I sent a bottle around the corner to neighbours who are coughing, and they insisted it was the best cough elixir ever! :)
Aleida, they were fun to make – just avoid the sweet pickle!
Choclette, I was quite disappointed to. You should have seen that bottle, it was nearly exploding with bottled gases. Ugh. Maybe I left it out in the sun too long. But I was always a bit apprehensive of the “no salt” thing – I’ve never had much luck with any pickles like that.
That’s interesting on the liqueurs, thank you. The original instructions I had said leave for 2 months, filter, then rest for another month before straining through muslin and bottling. Good to know it would have been ok for much longer. Don’t know how much more we could have got out of the plums though – they were pretty soft and mushy by the end.
Celia, the plum liqueur looks lovely. Perfect for a little after dinner sipping… a little biscotti to dunk perhaps?
Your pantry must look so good with all your bottled and jarred goodies. Do you ever just open the door… *sigh contentedly*… and then close it again?…(thats what I would do :-)
Brydie, all the time! We have an entire pantry shelf full of glowing jars of jam.. :)
Those preserved limes look fab. We have a batch brewing at the moment. My brother gave us a bag of limes from his tree – perfect for preserving as they dont have any sprays etc. But I ran out of time before my trip away for work and was feeling very guilty about wasting the limes. But to my surprise when I got home Andrew told me that he had seen the limes and decided to make preserved limes. He is quite pleased with himself!
BTW, I don’t chuck out the flesh of the preserved lemons/limes – I use it as well and love its jelly like consistency. Just check for seeds before using. It is too wasteful to just chuck out…great flavour in there.
Your plum liquer looks very “medicinal” indeed – good for the cold days/nights we have at the moment.
That man of yours is full of surprises!
I’ve never used the flesh of preserved lemons or limes – will try to next time. I’d always been taught just to use the rind…
Oh my, everytime I come here, I learn somthing new. You are such an interesting person. Love the liqueur. Have a fab day :)
Those limes look absolutely awesome.
I hope one day to have a large enough crop on my lime to have to consider such moves but until that day I will just enjoy those that do.
Kind Regards
Belinda
What did you do with the plums after straining off the liquid?
too bad about the sweet ones, but at least the salted turned out great. and the plum liquer looks very nice, what a pretty colour!
Oooh look at those preserved limes! I’m drooling :D Could you use those in a tagine instead of preserved lemons?
Thank you all!
Kim, the leftover plum pulp went into the compost.
Lorraine, that’s the plan! :)
Celia, you’re such an inspiration. I made your polar fleece sack to send to my youngest daughter in Sydney to keep her warm while she is studying. I made preserved lemons some months ago and kept them in the fridge initially because here in Queensland a ‘cool spot’ can be hard to find. I wonder what difference it makes to the finished product. Last night I used some chopped rind to scatter over lamb shanks which I’d cooked with Ras-el-Hanout, figs and honey. I combined the rind with chopped coriander and served the lot with cous cous. Wasn’t half bad!
I’m so glad to hear about the sack, Jan, because it’s really cold! Probably more so for a Queenslander.. :)
And thanks for the recipe idea – it sounds like a wonderful thing to cook in a tagine.. :)
I’ve never had limes in such cheap abundance that I have been willing to preserve them but they do look lovely and I’d be very happy for someone to make me some :)
I do have a 50 year old lemon tree that must be thinking it’s going to kick the boot every year because it never stops producing (to the point where we have to pick the fruit just to stop the branches from breaking) so I preserve lots of jars of lemons to give away as gifts. I can’t believe how expensive they are to buy preserved!
Sarah, we’ve planted a little lemon tree – hopefully one day we’ll have an abundance of lemons as well to play with! :)
Love the look of the limes…mmm. And the plum brandy…nice work…sorry to hear it’s so cold! We are smack dab in the middle of the heat right now…Love the polarfleece bags in the other post!
Such vibrant colors. Excellent photos. I passed a jar of preserved lemons in the supermarket this week. I was tempted to buy them just to taste but I bet they are nothing like these ones.
Barb, I’m being a naughty whinger – it is cold to me, but not compared to almost everyone else! We’re very spoilt here in temperate Sydney most of the time!
Gillian, thanks! I’m really happy with them. Thank goodness one jar of preserves worked, or I’d have wasted the entire box!
Haven’t tried those limes either…they sound interesting! The plum liqueur would go down well…reading some comments I thought the same thing of your medicinal bottles..wish I could find something like them over here…most the time I recycle cliptop beer bottles…x
Yvette, the bottles were picked up at a clearance sale at our glass supplier Plasdene. I wish I’d bought more, but Pete wouldn’t let me! I think you’d probably find something similar in Italy – the secret is to look big – don’t go to retail stores, ring around glass suppliers to try and buy in bulk. We have to spend $100 minimum when we buy from Plasdene, but the bottles and jars end up about 1/4 of retail cost (those glass bottles were just 44c each, for example).
Thanks for the recipe Celia!
Judy
when I make the plum liquer do I put a tight cap on or leave it open a little?
Maura, our lid was tightly sealed. We didn’t get any bubbling with the plum liqueur, only the sweet limes!