Salted Limes 鹹檸檬 Haam Ning Mung

It seems like when it comes to a sore throat, there are different traditions of soothing this symptom with drinks like tea with honey or a hot toddy. Using salted limes is one of these for southern Chinese folks and it’s something my parents regularly keep around at home. They’re easy to make and can last indefinitely. I also like the sour, salty, and bitter flavor of them. If you enjoy Persian cuisine, you’d also be familiar with this since they are similar to black limes from that cuisine.

When I was a teenager, we still had a really large jar in a cabinet that my dad started before I was born so I’ve had these salted limes that were over a decade old and they were fine. After about two years or so when they start to turn black, the flavor more or less stays about the same. I know in Hawaii, the Chinatown groceries sell these and some use the same method to preserve calamansi or other local citrus that they probably grow themselves.

The funny thing about this is that I’ve asked for a recipe from my parents before over the phone and the instructions were always extremely vague and they said to them, it’s not like there’s much of a recipe for it. You clean out a jar, clean the limes, salt them, and wait. But I finally was able to get a rough measurement that I will try as soon as I head back to Chicago tomorrow. The funny thing though is that I do need to wait till the summer to try them.

UPDATE 4/20/20: I tried a recipe when I got back from my trip and from this rough measurement, there’s some mistake in the proportions as this is far too salty. I had to add a lot of water to my jar and it’s still too salty. I might dump some of that brine and replace it with more water and vinegar to keep it preserved. It will change the taste, but I won’t waste any. I’ll come back to this later and rework the proportions.

RECIPE:

Limes
Salt
Time

Clean out a jar and set aside. It should be dry.

Wash your limes and pick out any stem stubs that remain on them.

For every 1 lb of limes, use 1/2 cup of salt. (see not above)

Place salt in a large bowl .Roll each lime in the salt and pack them into the jar. For each layer that you pack in, sprinkle some of the measured salt on top of each layer. Do not fill the jar more than 3/4 full as they will ferment. At the end, sprinkle any remaining salt into the jar at the end.

Seal and keep an eye on the jar. You will need to open the jar periodically to release the gas from fermenting in it. Store in a cool, dark place away from direct sunlight. Check after 3-4 months to see if the fermentation stops and there’s no hiss sound when you open the jar. Once it stops fermenting, it is ready and can keep indefinitely.

To use, boil some water and cut out a small portion of a lime. In a mug, place the desired amount of lime that you want, fill it with hot water and crush with the back of a spoon.

Salted limes my parents made about 2-3 years ago.