Pour boiling water into a 1-quart or 1-liter glass jar with lid. Immerse lid, too. Drain and air dry. We used a Weck 1 liter tulip shaped jar.

Cut 4 of the lemons into 8 wedges, keeping seeds intact. Remember, depending on how many lemons you used for juice, you might be left with an intact lemon or two for another use.

Place a few lemon wedges in the clean jar, cover with salt and repeat layering all of the lemon wedges alternately with the salt, finishing with a layer of salt. Press down gently to lightly compress. Pour lemon juice into jar to cover. The lemons should be submerged. Cover the jar and let it sit at room temperature for 7 days, inverting the jar a few times every day to keep the lemons, salt and juice well combined.

Many recipes suggest storing at room temperature as with the high salt content the mixture is safely “preserved”. That said, I find no downside to refrigerating the jar after the curing period. They last a long time. I have had jars last for months, but use your judgment. Three months is a conservative estimate although some cooks say a year or more!

To use, simply rinse the lemon wedges gently, scrape away seeds and add to your chosen dishes. I know that sounds persnickety, but the seeds fall away almost by themselves and the process goes very quickly.