Recently I’ve discovered a new drink. It was at a Vietnamese restaurant and they had a drink called Salty Lemonades. I ordered it and it was delicious. Lemonades are a quintessential summer drink. I was never a big fan of it until I tried a salty lemonade at a Vietnamese restaurant. I know it’s pretty weird but bare with me, this drinks grows on you. I usually don’t look at the menu at restaurants but I just happen to glance at the drinks menu at this particular Vietnamese restaurant when I was out with my husband. After I finished it, I wanted to make more of it so I can enjoy at home. I did some research and found that it’s pretty easy to make. Thus, I’m going to make it at home. The first ingredient is salt preserved lemons
Salt Preserved Lemons are the key
For this lemonade, it has a slightly salty taste. The reason I like it is because it actually cuts down on the acidity of the lemons which does reek havoc on my stomach. Or other times the lemonades are too sweet to combat the acidity. With the salted preserved lemons, it’s not as astringent and with a bit of sugar it’s quite tasty.
Ingredients
The recipe only requires 3 ingredients, lemon, salt and water. Well, also time is needed but you don’t need to wait too long. It will take about a week. You will need a large container to store it. I’ve made 12 lemons in a preserving jar and I’ve also added more lemons as I was consuming them which I found to be quite nice.
Once the Vietnamese salt preserved lemons are ready, all you need is to add water, sugar and ice!
Pro-tip
- I used sea salt but if you are using table salt, I would just add slightly more than what the recipe allow. However if you don’t want it to be too salty you can put less. However, you still want this to be a brine that the lemons can preserve in.
- Boil the water and salt together so that the salt will melt.
- Let it cool down before placing brine into the jar
- Always make sure the brine is submerging the lemons. It will start to grow mold if you don’t submerge it fully
- Once you are start taking the lemons out, the remaining lemon may float to the top, you can add more lemons or transfer to a small container.
Vietnamese Preserved Lemons & Salty Lemonades
Equipment
- 1 3L preserving jar
Ingredients
- 12 Large lemons
- ½ cup Sea salt some extra to salt the lemons
- 1½ L Water
Instructions
- Wash the lemons thoroughly using salt and water. Scrub the outside. Rinse with fresh water
- Set aside lemons
- Make the brine by bringing water and salt to a boil. Once all the salt has dissolved, let it simmer for about 5 minutes
- Turn off the heat and let it cool down
- Cut the ends of the lemons until you can see the flesh
- Make a crosscut on one end
- Sprinkle some salt into the crosscut
- Place into the preservation jar. Make sure to pack it down firmly.
- Once the brine is cooled, pour it into the jar. Make sure that it covers all the lemons. If not you can place a small dish on top to push it down.
- Seal it up and preserve at room temperature for 1 week.
Salty Lemonade
- To make the lemonade, use a CLEAN utensil to take out a lemon into a cup
- Put some sugar and crush the lemons so all the juices comes out
- Add water or Sparkling water to the cup
- Add ice and more sugar to taste if needed. Enjoy!
