If & When Preserved Meyer Lemon Paste - Grown & Made in California

Taste the Paste

Spoonable in one step, preserved Meyer lemon paste is a shortcut to added depth and flavor in everyday foods.

Spread it on avocado toast. Rub it on meat and fish before grilling, vegetables before roasting. Mix it into batter before baking. It's the base for dressings, marinades, soups and cocktails.

We make If & When by hand in California with local Meyer lemons, sea salt, whole spices and love. That's it. A zero-waste product we cure the entire lemon - skin, seeds and all - for up to 24 months. That's If & When.

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If & When it Began

A chef-turned-winemaker sits next to the world's worst cook at a dinner party. By dessert, the first Preserved Meyer Lemon Paste is born.

Carla DeLuca is the IF and Nick Sansone is the WHEN in If & When. The smiley guy with the beard, Nick is a winemaker. Carla (to his left) burns water.

WHEN Nick cooks, he creates, foraging for ingredients near his Sonoma County, California, home and local farmers’ markets. He harvests his own seaweed.

IF Carla cooks, she cooks for a week, gathering items from grocery stores in walking distance of her apartment. She roasted her first chicken at 42.

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Moroccan Preserved Meyer Lemon Paste

Preserved lemon is a tradition of Moroccan cooking, a balance of salty and tart. Our version is a nod to preserved lemons' heritage, modernized for today's pantry.

We cure small batches of California Meyer lemons by hand with a signature blend of spices including cassia bark, Tellicherry peppercorn and allspice to make a rich, fragrant paste as suitable a marinade for raw meat as it is a mixer for margaritas. Desserts such as berry cobblers and fruit pies are brightened by the Moroccan paste.

Spoonable in one step. No tagine required.

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Bay Leaf Black Pepper Preserved Meyer Lemon Paste

Meyer lemons sourced from organic farms hand cured in sea salt are infused with the mild sweetness of Turkish bay leaves, the rich flavor of Tellicherry peppercorns and a hint of garlic.

Our Bay blend is the unsung hero of many a soup, stock, salad dressing and cream sauce. It's the go-to for pasta (sautee If & When with olive oil, garlic, and toss in noodles). It adds a complexity of flavor to meats - rub under and over the skin - a little goes a long way.

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Cumin Garlic Preserved Meyer Lemon Paste

Cumin is a signature scent in kitchens from Mexico to North Africa and Southeast Asia.

Our Cumin Garlic Preserved Meyer Lemon Paste balances toasted cumin seed with pickled garlic, bringing this warm, distinct flavor to everyday foods from rice (add before boiling and at the finish) to guacamole (the only ingredient you need).

Seafood is at its best with our Cumin Garlic paste - with or without oil, the longer the paste rests on fish before grilling or baking, the stronger the flavor.

Spoonable in one step. From California to your kitchen.

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Spoonable in One Step

Preserved Meyer lemon paste saves time and ingredients, making it easier to create flavorful, everyday meals. It adds a depth of flavor, a complexity that salt and lemon alone cannot.

If & When is the best supporting actor to grilled meat, fish, veggies, dressings, marinades, cocktails and desserts.

Check out our recipes to learn ways to make the paste your own.

Recipes

I used the paste to make a “pesto” sauce to layer over pan-fried salmon cutlets – Bloody delicious!!

Alf - Sydney, AU

Thank you for the stellar customer service.

-Margo, Oxnard, CA

Your product is gold.

Head grocery buyer - Staff of Life Market, Santa Cruz, CA

If & When is my new favorite with the grill.

Kevin - Vallejo, CA

Salt Cured | Barrel Aged | Hand Blended

Chef-turned-winemaker Nick Sansone sat next to Carla DeLuca, the world's worst cook, at dinner in Sonoma, California. By dessert, the first preserved Meyer lemon paste was born.

"Culinary genius." - World Spice Merchants, Seattle

We cure and barrel age citrus in sea salt and spices for up to 24 months before hand blending it into paste. A zero-waste product, the entire lemon is cured - skin, seeds and all.

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So much easier than using whole preserved lemons - this could be your new kitchen secret weapon.

Melissa Joulwan's "Well Fed" newsletter

GAME CHANGER for our meals!!!

Dana (@skullet05)

I love supporting a small company that makes a quality product and has great customer service.

Danielle - Rosemount, MN

Thank you for my new favorite condiment!!!

Vanessa (@nessas_joy)

It's so simple and adds such great flavor.

Stephanie - Camp Hill, PA

Meyer Lemon Love

Meyer lemons have a sweeter, less acidic flavor than Lisbon or Eureka lemons. We select citrus harvested at the peak of ripeness from organic, family-owned farms on California's Central Coast. A thin, aromatic skin makes Meyers perfect for preserving.

During the season, we make If & When within a 50-mile radius of our farmers, curing Meyer lemons by hand in unique blends of whole spices and sea salt so that you may enjoy If & When throughout the year.

Recipes

#ifandwhenisamust

@TSnow52

Our new favorite foundation of flavor...we're adding a little to just about everything.

Miracle Plum (retailer) - Santa Rosa, CA

Try it on everything from chicken kabobs and labne dip to avocado toast for sensational depth and flavor. We’re obsessed.

The Mercury News - San Jose, CA

Thanks for making such an awesome product! Giving some as gifts!

Susan - Sterling, VA

I bought this and it is AMAZING!

Noor - Pasadena, CA