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How to make dried limes (Persian Limu Omani)

Prep Time10 minutes
Active Time1 day
Drying limes10 days
Cuisine: iran
Author: Aloorecipes

Materials

  • 4 kg Limes
  • ½ cup Vinegar
  • 1 cup Salt

Instructions

  • Thoroughly wash the fresh limes.
    wash the fresh limes
  • Add salt to the limes; sprinkle salt all over the limes and let them sit for one day so that the salt is absorbed by the limes. With this, the limes will become savory and taste better, the bitterness of their skin will decrease too. For 4 kilograms of lime, add one cup of salt.
    Add salt to the limes
  • After one day, wash the salt off the limes.
  • Put the limes in boiled water and vinegar; put a pot of water on the stove and let it boil, then add the vinegar to it. Add the limes and let them sit for 1 minute in the water. Then, drain the limes and pour cold water on them to stop the cooking process.
    Be careful not to leave the limes in boiling water for more than 1 minute. We don’t want the limes to cook or change color; this step is for softening their skin so that they dry easier.
    If you cook them for more than 1 minute, the skin will become too soft, and the limes become mushy. In the end, after drying up, the Limu Omanis will be wrinkly and dark.
    Put the limes in boiled water and vinegar
  • With a toothpick, make holes in the limes; with a toothpick or the tip of a knife, create 1 or 2 small holes in each lime. This will help the air enter the limes, prevent rotting, and hasten the drying process.
    make holes in the limes
  • Put the limes under the sun for drying; put the limes on a tray, on a dark piece of fabric, or in a basket. It’s better if you put the limes in a basket to allow better airflow, both from above and under, to prevent rotting.
    After about 1 week, the limes will look like this. Their color will slowly change, and they’ll dry up. Your Limu Omanis are becoming prepared.
    limoo Amani dries up better and faster under sunlight, but you can put them outside the house for the first 10 days and then bring them in, put them in a basket or on a tray and leave them to completely dry up. Put them in a stable place where they don’t interfere with your work and leave them to their own to dry up naturally.
    After 2-3 weeks, the Limu Omanis will be like the picture below. As you can see, they’re wrinkling and drying.
    Dried limes after 2 weeks

Notes

-The process takes a lot of time, but it’s always worthwhile to make healthy Limu Omani by yourself at home.
-If the sunlight is too strong, you can skip the step of poking the limes with a toothpick. 
-Approximately 6-7 kilograms of fresh lime will give you 1 kilogram of Loomi. 
-If you dry the limes under the sun, you’ll have yellow and brown Limu Omani. If you put them in the oven, you’ll get Black dried lime. 

Drying lime in the oven 

Like the previous method, wash the limes and add salt to them. Put them in boiling water and vinegar. Poke them with a toothpick. Then, put the limes in an oven tray. Turn on the oven and set it at the lowest possible temperature, like 110°C. Leave the oven’s door half-open and put the tray inside. 
Pay attention so that the temperature isn’t too high; it should be like the sun shining on a metal object. You should be able to touch the tray and pull it out without needing a glove. If the temperature is too high, the limes become bitter and burn. 
Flip them over a few times a day. Leave the limes like this for 10-15 days until their insides are all dried up. 
During this time, if you want to use the oven, take the limes out of the oven for a few hours a day and then put them back in. 

Drying limes on a heater or radiator 

In this method too, wash the limes and add salt to them. Put them in boiling water and vinegar. Make small holes in them with a toothpick.
Put the limes on a metal tray and put them on a heater or radiator. The heat must be pretty low. Turn them over a few times every day. If the tray receives too much heat, the limes will get cooked, and the Limu Omanis will become wrinkly. If the heat is too high, instead of putting the tray on the heater, place it next to it. 
During the first days when the limes have a lot of water, beware of rotting. After they dry a bit, you can move them to a basket and leave them inside the house. Being exposed to air helps with the drying process, and they don’t need to be on the heater 24 hours a day. 
In this method, it’ll also take 15-20 days for the Limu Omanis to be prepared.