can I eat this: preserved lemon edition

November 17, 2016 3:59 PM

Jar of commercially prepared and jarred preserved lemons, expired in April. They are totally fine, right?

Like, I know expiry dates are mostly fake, and this is just lemons and salt basically, so I assume I could eat these ten years from now and they would be the same. They taste and smell fine. I just don't want anyone to get botulism because of me, y'know?

posted by goodbyewaffles to Food & Drink (4 answers total)

They're fine. (Edit: if they were fine in April they are still fine now.)
posted by fingersandtoes at 4:31 PM on November 17, 2016

Still Tasty didn't list pickled lemons but I figure sauerkraut is just cabbage and salt (close enough) so I did a search for that and they were basically like 'shrug it might not taste as good'
posted by aniola at 6:48 PM on November 17, 2016

Texture and taste might be not quite what you expect, but I'd eat it without reservation.
posted by erst at 7:58 PM on November 17, 2016

Best answer: Yep, like you said, you could eat these in ten years and they'd be identical. That's the whole point of preserved lemons.

(You only have to worry about botulism in low-acid and low-salt environments--preserved lemons are probably one of the most inhospitable environments for that bacteria to live in, period.)
posted by acroyear2 at 7:28 AM on November 18, 2016 [2 favorites]