Recipe: Salted Oranges

This recipe enables you to preserve oranges for up to a year. The salt makes the fruit ferment and develop a tangy, bitter flavour. Recipe by Inés Lauber from Studio Inés Lauber

Ingredients:

• 2-3 large preserving jars with a screw lid or snap lock (at least 1 litre, preferably larger)
• 120 g or 8 tbsp natural salt (rock salt or sea salt)
• Water
• 1.4 kg or approx. 6 organic oranges
• Juice from an orange

Preparation:

1. Sterilise the preserving jars and lids by boiling in hot water in a large pot for 10 minutes. Do not remove the jars and lids with your hands, instead use a pair of tongs and place them on a spread-out tea towel.
2. Brush off the oranges under warm, running water with a vegetable brush. Cut off one end of the fruit. Cut into the fruit lengthwise in quarters, so that the quarters are still held together at the intact end of the orange. Cut open over a bowl to collect the juice. Carefully fold open the oranges, spread the salt (up to 1 tbsp) onto the cut surfaces and then press the fruit firmly together again.
3. Place the fruit tightly packed together into a sterilised preserving jar (with an acid-resistant lid). Halve the other oranges, squeeze out the juice and pour the juice with the juice collected earlier as well as the remaining salt into the preserving jar. If there is still some space in the jar, weigh down the fruit with a sterilised pebble or a small glass lid of a suitable size and fill the jar with boiling water, so that the oranges are completely covered in water. Seal the jar with the lid. During the first 10 days, stand the jar on its base or the lid on alternate days. After that, leave to rest in a cool, dark place (e.g. basement) for at least 3-4 weeks (or longer).
4. The oranges can be preserved for around a year in the sealed jar. Use a clean fork to remove the oranges from the glass to prevent bacteria from getting into the jar. Once opened, keep in the refrigerator.