"Live" Tahini with Preserved Lemon and Garlic

Healthy tehina/tahina/tachina/tahini dressing or dip or sauce

I make this dip most weeks. We dip bread in it on Sabbath and I use it as salad dressing during the week. It would also be excellent drizzled over eggplant.

I do all this with my stick blender, so you will want a tall cup that fits a stick blender.

You CAN do this by hand, but you will need to finely chop all the solids.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup tahini paste (I use Ethiopian or sprouted Tahini)
• 3/4 cup water (less for thicker dip)
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1, 2, or 3 cloves of garlic - preferably fermented (I use the cloves that are left after we eat all the pickles. Fresh or frozen are fine, but adjust for the potency.)
• 1/8 of a preserved lemon, seeds removed
• juice from 1/4 lemon
• 1/4 tsp salt

* If you don't have preserved lemon, use the juice from half a lemon or more to taste and 1/2 tsp salt in place of 3 ingredients above.

Add all ingredients to cup. Blend or mix until tahini turns white and smooth.
Add

• 1 small bunch of parsley leaves, optional

If using a blender, pulse to chop parsley. You may want to keep a couple leaves for garnish.

Now here's the tough part: Transfer to a closed container without eating it all.

[More Than] 10 Ways to Use Preserved Lemons

I made preserved lemons after coming across this video from DietEasily. The whole series is excellent!

I started selling some of the fermented foods I've been making (see current selection HERE). The pickles and Sauerkraut are flying off the shelf (ok, more like trickling of the half-shelf in my refrigerator.) But no one seems interested in these gorgeous organic preserved lemons I have! My friends want to know, "What do you do with them?" Well, I shall tell you!

There are three basic ways to use the preserved lemon:
A. Whole - Slice it, cut it in chunks, chop it, blend it. The whole thing is edible.
B. Just the rind - When I want a more subtle sparkle where the lemon will be eaten raw, I use my thumb to scrape off the pulp and the pith. Then I usually slice the rind into thin slivers.
C. Juice - The lemons are usually packed in lemon juice, which becomes salty and mildly fermented. To keep the lemons for as long as possible (without mold) they must stay submerged in this wonderful elixir or salt water. But there is usually some to spare.

I encourage you to use them raw as much as possible, in order to preserve all the beneficial microorganisms. Preserved lemons can replace lemon juice and salt in a recipe.

Quick Electrolyte Drink

It's hot outside! It is so hot that running simple errands can take a lot out of me. Do you ever feel so thirsty and exhausted, but water just isn't cutting it? When I return home from a sweaty walk, this is what I like to put in my water bottle:

• 2-3 lemon slices
• a little drizzle of agave syrup (maybe 1 teaspoon)
• TINY pinch of low-sodium salt substitute. Read the ingredients. You want something with sodium AND potassium. I use something that is half sea salt (sodium chloride) and half potassium chloride.
• ice
• water