Why this recipe works
This is preservation stripped to its essentials. A heavy dose of salt draws the water out of the lemons by osmosis and creates conditions in which spoilage microbes simply cannot grow, which is how a pickle keeps for months without a fridge. The sun warms the jar, softens the tough rind and lets the flavours mellow from harshly sour into something rounded and complex. Turmeric and chilli add colour and a mild antimicrobial hand. The honest part is unavoidable: what preserves it is the salt, so a good pickle is very salty. It is a teaspoon on the side of a meal, a burst of flavour, not a serving to be spooned out by the bowl.
Ingredients
Method
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1
Wash the lemons and dry them completely with a cloth. Use a clean, bone-dry glass jar. Cut each lemon into 8 wedges, catching the juice.
Bone-dry, or it spoils: a single drop of stray water invites mould. Every lemon, spoon and jar must be perfectly dry. This one rule matters more than any other.
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2
In a dry bowl, toss the lemon wedges with the salt, turmeric and chilli until coated. Pack them into the jar, pour in the extra lemon juice, and press down.
Why the extra juice: the lemons should sit in a salty, acidic brine of their own juice. Salt plus acid together is a doubly hostile place for spoilage microbes.
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3
Seal the jar and keep it in warm sunlight for 1 to 2 weeks, giving it a shake each day. The rinds will slowly soften and the colour deepen.
Why the sun and the wait: warmth softens the pith and drives the slow chemistry that turns raw, bitter rind into mellow pickle. Daily shaking keeps everything bathed in brine.
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4
It is ready when the rinds are soft and the taste is rounded, not raw. Stir in the roasted fenugreek if using. Always serve with a clean, dry spoon.
Keep it clean: a wet or used spoon introduces water and microbes. With a dry spoon, a well-salted pickle keeps for many months at room temperature.
Three ways
1 · Salt & sun
Oil-free, as above. Clean, sharp and simple.
2 · Tempered
Finish with a mustard-seed and hing tadka in a little mustard oil for a richer pickle.
3 · Sweet-sour
Add a little jaggery for a nimbu ka meetha achaar, softer and less sharp.