Moroccan-style Preserved Calamondin Recipe
Maybe a little offbeat this week! We have a little calamondin tree on our patio (in the living room when it's winter!) and it's a very pretty little tree that produces these little tiny fruit that look like mini oranges. We decided to find out if they're edible, and they totally are. They're important in the cuisine of lots of Southeast Asian countries (and we discovered they make a great gin and tonic in place of a slice of lime!). More information on them here. When hubby ran his restaurant, one of his guiding principles was to use only local ingredients. He bought as much as he could from within the city (Toronto has several farming co-ops that will sell to restaurants), and from the province. There were a few concessions, of course. Coffee and tea for instance. However, he stuck to his guns when making his hummus in-store. Lemons are not a thing we can buy locally in Canada, but we had all these lovely little citrus fruit just growing in our living room. So, he tried preserving them Moroccan lemon style, and he used that as the citrus in his hummus. It was excellent!
So, here's the simple procedure for this. It's just salt and citrus, super simple. If you don't have calamondins available, you could also do this with any thin-skinned citrus fruit like Moroccan lemons, key limes, or even kumquats. It goes well in hummus, salad dressings, marinades or anywhere you need a citrus zing and some salt!
