Lebanese Pickles (mouneh) Recipes
Simple Lebanese Pickles and Preserves
I know that everyone seems to be all about the sterilized canning, and I’ve done a good bit of that in the past. But seems I can’t get enough of the Lebanese recipes for quick pickles and preserves that hold in the refrigerator. The pickles last several weeks, especially the turnips. The preserves, I’ve…
Read MoreHomemade Apricot-Lime Fruit Leather
If it still to this day surprises me, it’s got to be surprising to you too: Fruit leather is so Lebanese. I was eating fruit leather long before I’d ever heard that term, and even before we were buying fruit roll-ups at Schmidt’s on Lansing’s west side way back when. The original Lebanese version of…
Read MoreApple Butter with Orange Blossom
This slow-cooker Apple Butter is intensely flavorful with warm spices, brown sugar, and the added beauty of orange blossom. I’m making a lot of an incredibly good apple butter these days, and it all started with the oatmeal. And habits. Which I haven’t always been great at forming. It’s taken some time and thought to…
Read MoreQuick Mixed Pickles
Quick Mixed Pickle jars are an essential part of our everyday eating. These are crunchy, flavorful, and beautiful. My recipe is for quick pickles, which must be stored in the refrigerator. Something serious happened recently up north: the season changed. It’s not just the temperature, the coolness in the air, though that plays a part.…
Read MoreLebanese Fig Jam with Anise, a full jar
Ever since my cousins and I had what can only be described as an extremely fun baking disaster day a couple of years ago, I’ve been on the hunt to learn Lebanese flatbread from a pro, the way my Sitto taught me far too long ago. Turns out that’s a tall order, since very few…
Read MoreFavorite Things: Glass Jars
It pains me to get rid of the glass jars that enter my kitchen. So I end up with rather large collections of them in the pantry, and try my best to reduce by giving away whatever I can think of in a jar. The Ball and Kerr mason jars find many uses here on…
Read MoreCandied Orange Peel begins with the letter “C”
When my mother moved out of the home she lived in for 40 years, the home where she raised five children, a husband, many vegetable and flower gardens, and 50 pine trees, there was plenty of accumulated stuff to sort through. It was the stuff of photos, books, kitchen and china cabinets, closets, and more…
Read MoreTechnique: How to prep oranges for candied peel
The OCD-afflicted among us are going to enjoy the organized manner in which it’s best to peel citrus for candying. I have never been one to indulge in the wreckless abandon of tearing off the skin of an orange willy nilly until the fruit is naked. No, I give myself little gold stars on each…
Read MoreApricot Jam, and some time to let your mind wander
To make apricot jam, the method and ingredients are very simple: sugar, water, lemon juice, and apricots that get pitted just by splitting them open with your hands. But the process does require a heaping portion of…you. An hour’s worth of your hand stirring to prevent scorching and your patience waiting for the fruit and…
Read MorePickled Turnips, and an introduction to Aunt Hilda
One of the first recipes posted here, Lebanese turnip pickles, or lift, are always on the table as a piquant addition to Lebanese breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Lebanese turnip pickles are very simple to make and can be adjusted to suit your taste–spicy, garlicky, or not! The Abood sisters, my aunts, had talents. Helen sang…
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