Years ago when I was forced to learn about the dire state of our food in America because my body was shutting down… one of the 4 foods I could consume without pain was lemons, either preserved lemons or these Instant Pot lemons, other wise known as sour lemon candy. Lemon peels are incredibly gut healing and help signal your body that it is time to release bile to digest the proteins that are incoming…
If proteins aren’t properly digested they go rancid in the gut and cause gas, bloating, etc. So chewing of course is important, but if you also have low stomach acid, a kick of lemon will prove helpful. I drink lemon in my water all day but the peels have a goodly amount of pectin, a soluble fiber that not only helps prevent constipation, but because soluble fibers draw water into the intestines, they can slow digestion enough that more nutrients can be absorbed and can help control blood glucose levels.
But back to bile… if you’re short on it, eating some lemon peel with your meal, especially at the beginning, signals your stomach to get ready and bile production increases, which is vital for digesting those proteins.
I think back now to when I could only eat wild caught salmon, grass fed lamb (and bone broth) avocados and as I said before, lemon peels. I did this for a few months and before long I could eat some veggies again, and the lemons were a pivotal part of this healing.
I’m glad I can eat a variety of foods again, but it can be handy to have these lemons around, especially blended into a curd for lemon & honey tea, ready for a rich lemon keto cake, or to put in a bone broth protein smoothie like I did today.
They’re easy to make, too!
Equipment needed:
Instant Pot
Sieve
Funnel
Pint Canning Jars
Lids
Instant Pot Lemons for Curd & Gut Healing
Equipment
- Instant Pot
- Sieve
- Funnel
- Pint Canning Jars & lids
Ingredients
- 6-10 organic lemons washed
- 1 cup filtered water
Instructions
- Wash the lemons and then quarter them, removing seeds as you go. If needs be, cut them in 1/8 portions to remove as many of the seeds as possible.
- Put the lemons in the bottom of the instant pot inner pot, add 1 cup filtered water (the Instant pot needs at least 1 cup to work)
- Some instant pots are different. My old one I would put on the poultry setting for 7 minutes. This one won’t allow a 7 minute cycle so I set it to manual at high pressure for 7 minutes, secure the lid and let it do its work. That’s it.
- Once the pot decompresses, you can either transfer the lemons to a glass dish and store in the fridge to eat in the mornings for gut healing, or you can transfer them to a high powered blender and puree them into a paste. I like this method as it’s more versatile but especially as it goes well with raw honey as a morning tea or added to my immune tea with ginger & turmeric with manuka honey. See how you like it and enjoy!
