Don’t you think even the name, Lemon Jam is so tempting? I know it’s not the jam season yet, we mostly make it at the end of Summer or in September here in Turkey. So why did I make this lemon jam last night? Why am I that crazy to make it at night? Did I tell you that I forget about time concept when it comes to cooking?
My parents sent a big box of lemon from their garden a few months ago and we’ve finally come to the end of these lemons! It was really hard to accept this sad reality when I saw last night that we had about a kilo left! “I must find a way to keep these beauties longer!”, I thought. I just didn’t want them to end! There is a good Turkish proverb for such cases: Every beauty has an end, so enjoy it to the fullest when you have time!
What makes these lemons so special? They were sent from Mersin, which is famous for its citrus fruits. Lemons from there are completely different from the ones we buy from markets. They are much more sour and they have such a heavenly fragrance that when you cut it in halves, you feel like you’re in a citrus yard!
So my solution was to make lemon jam! It was the first time I was making it, so I was a bit excited and curious about the result. Despite all my fears, it came out perfect! No recipe could go wrong with these incredibly fragrant lemons!
This jam has a zesty, refreshing and a little tangy flavor, so it’s good for warm Spring days! You can either have it at breakfast, spread it on biscuits or use it as a topping on lemon cake. I have another plan with it though. I’m going to make thumbprint cookies and fill them with it very soon!
Here is the recipe for Limon Receli:
Homemade Lemon Jam
Zesty, refreshing and fragrant lemon jam.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 1 small jar
Ingredients
- 4 lemons
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 200g sugar
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups extra water to boil lemons zest
Instructions
- Grate 3 lemons into a small pot.
- Slice one lemon thinly into rings or lengthwise. Add them into pot.
- Pour 1 cup water over lemons and boil it 10 minutes.
- Strain its water and repeat this step. The bitterness of lemon zest will be removed this way.
- Add sugar, lemon juice and 2 cups water over strained lemon zest in pot.
- Boil it over medium low heat until it reaches the right jam consistency, about 30 minutes.
- Pour it into a jar when hot and let it cool in the jar.
I love how sharp the jam looks…How clear! Wonderful, Zerrin. I will try this jam recipe for sure. We are not that much into very sweet jams and marmalade but this one will be a good one to make and keep around with its tangy flavor.
Thank you Ilke! It is not too sweet, so I’m sure you will love it! Try to use fragrant lemons for this jam.
This is going in my TO MAKE list! Looks and sounds so good. I have never attempted to make lemon preserves, but this recipe is very tempting. Great shot too! Thank you for sharing, Zerrin!
Hi Feride, you will love the lemon zest in it! I cut them in big slices, but you can chop into pieces too!
Don’t bother. I have just spent several hours with this shocking recipe. The final result is only half a jar of jam that isn’t even set. It is an absolute shocker!
My lips are puckering and my mouth is watering. I love lemony lemon desserts and I know this would be beautiful as a topping on so many things. I know how you feel about being in a time warp when we are creating and cooking in our kitchen. I totally loose track of time. I love your cloth napkins and ornate spoons so beautiful to see some of your favorite things on display.
I’ve already used it to fill thumbprint cookies today and it was perfectly tangy! It balances the sweetness of cookies. Happy to hear that you love the props!
Looks and sounds delicious … and got an OOOOH out of me as I was scrolling through posts in my Reader feed. 🙂
Lol! Thank you Chris! It is that good when combined with a little butter on bread:)
It’s not often I see a lemon jam Zerrin! I LOVE it! So refreshing and pretty! Like lemon sunshine. I’m off to check out your cookies!
This lemon jam is not too sweet, its fragrance and tanginess are outstanding, so we love it! Its color is great, isn’t it?
Love how it came out clear and sure it is so delicious like it looks.
Hi Samah! It has a great tangy flavor! We still have a little left. Thinking on how else I can use it!
Uses: on top of ice creams, puddings, inside little filo dough pillows, on pancakes, waffles, crepes, toasts, bagels, muffins, English Muffins, as a glaze with grilled or baked meat and fish, g(Salmon.. Chicken .mmm) on top or in, chicken or fish salads, add to sweet or savory smoothies. Pasta (Linguine, Orzo) Rice., Filling inside cupcakes, tarts, topping on full sized or mini cheesecakes. My mouth is now watering, have some fresh lemons from my neighbor’s tree, going to go make some. Thanks for the beautiful photos and recipe!
All these are great ideas Patricia! Would love to hear your thoughts when you try it.
Do you happen to know if this can be canned? It seems like it should be acidic enough, haha. Looks great but if I make it I want lots of it 🙂
This jam can be kept in jars for months! You need to make several jars of it then:)
When you say grate the 3 lemons do you mean the whole lemon or just the zest?
Hi Sarah! I mean just the zest of lemons.
I am glad that you are telling us that NOW……after I wasted 4 lemons , sugar and time. When I read to grate that is what I do. I will try again now that I know how it is to be made.
Hello, Zerrin ! Love your site, it makes me dream of my beautiful holidays in Turkey, where I go with my husband almost every year (near Marmaris). A question, please: do I have to squeeze the juice from the 4 grated lemons ? Or is it enough to put only 2 tablespoons ? Thanks and all the best to you and your little one !
Hi Gabriela! Thanks for stopping by! Turkey is a wonderful place for summer holidays, isn’t it? And the west of it has the best sea!
As for your question, add just 2tbsp lemon juice to give the right consistency to the jam. The lemon flavor will be from the grated zest.
Cheers from Turkey
Thank you Zerrin! I love the idea of making Lemon Jam late at night-I too lose all track of time in the kitchen. I have made lemon curd but never lemon jam. I am blessed with a lemon tree and can’t wait to try this one 🙂
I made this Jam and it has been very popular i ended up with just one jar for my household will make it again but keep it a secret
The first instruction says to “grate 3 lemons”. Does that mean zest/grate the peels, or grate the entire lemon?
No not the entire lemon, just the zest.
Hi Zerrin,
It came out AMAZING. Do you think it would be okay to double the amount without affecting the beautiful color of the jam and would it take 60 instead of 30 minutes to cook. Not sure if you tried. Thank you soo much for sharing your recipe.
Thank you for posting this wonderful recipe! I found this in March of this year, and have made three batches of this since then! We have a very bountiful lemon tree, so I made five times the recipe at once. The end result was delicious – almost reminiscent of a tart lemonade! I found some lovely limes and ruby red grapefruits at the market the other day. Tomorrow I’m planning on trying this recipe, but substituting a grapefruit or perhaps a few limes for some of the lemons. Do you have any advice, or have you perhaps tried this recipe with other citrus fruits? Thanks again for such a deliciously spritely recipe, without the heavy bitterness common to most marmalades!
Thank you for sharing your feedback on my lemon jam. It is one of the greatest hits, isn’t it? Well, I tried the same recipe for orange leaving all the skins, but not with grapefruit. I think the skin of grapefruit is not so appealing, so you might leave them out or just use little. Would love to hear the result when you try!
I am a little confused. Do you use the 3 lemons you zested, or only the one you sliced into rings, or all of them? I could not figure out when and how to add in the 3 lemons.
★★★★
I made the jam and it was delicious but too thin. I cooked it 30 minutes. Could it be that my lemons were too small and I should use 4 lemons zested instead of 3? Help……..I love the taste!
Linda, it’s most probably about the size of lemons you used. If the jam is too thin, you can grate even 5 or 6 lemons and slice 2 or 3 lemons instead of 1. Glad that you love the taste.
I tried this recipe today, excited & prepared to can. I was going to do 8 jars & 4of Orange. However w/ a few bad lemons, I decided on 7 jars of lemon. I Alterd the recipe & set out hopeful. The larger amount & Being a busy Mom of 5, it took me much longer than I expected. Grating 21lemons is NO Joke! In the end, my jam is STILL runny & no where near as pretty as yours 🙁 & the taste is a bit bitter. (I used Papa’s Lemons. They’re the size of my fist to a med Orange.)Any suggestions on a quick fix so i can wrap it up for the night? ?? More Sugar or Zest for flavor & sweetness? I thought about chia seeds for thickening? Idk? Don’t wanna throw out a good days work….
Hi Christina, I’m really sorry that the recipe didn’t work for you. You grated only the zest of lemons, didn’t you? It’s my fault that I didn’t stated it in the recipe. We should grate the yellow parts only and be careful not to grate the white parts as they give a sharp bitterness. Sorry but I’m not sure whether adding more sugar helps it. As for its consitency, did you change the amount of lemon juice in the recipe? What gives the jam the right consistency and thickens the jam is lemon juice. I used 2 tablespoons for 4 lemons. So I guess you should have used almost half of a lemon and get about 10 tablespoons of lemon juice. So to thicken it, you can put it over heat, bring it to boil and add lemon juice, let it simmer for about 5-10 minutes and then remove from heat. You can check it with a spoon. Mix with a spoon and if the jam sticks on the back of the spoon, it’s done. Hope these help.
Hello it looks wonderful and I want to make it but the recipe itself does not appear for me and I am unable to click on anything. Can you Please send it to me.
thank you
Gabriela
So not to sound stupid but I haven’t done a lot of canning, when you say grate 3 lemons are you meaning just the zest? And when you strain the water out of the lemons do you just discard the strained water and put new water in? Also, do you not need pectin to make this gel? I don’t see a step to make the pectin so just wondering. Lastly, I have what I believe to be Meyer lemons (the tree was here when we moved in but the fruit is slightly sweet) would those work and if so should I decrease the amount of sugar? Thank you! I’m a newbie with lots of questions
Hi Teresa, it’s always a pleasure for me to answer our readers’ questions. I’m happy you ask them here in the comments section, maybe some others have the same questions in their mind.
As for your questions, let me go one by one:
For your question 1: yes I mean grate the zest of 3 lemons.
For your question 2: You are right, just discard that water because it’s too bitter and we are trying to remove the bitterness of lemons by repeating this process. So after boiling and straining 2 times, we start the real step of lemon jam by adding sugar, lemon juice and water.
For your question 3: We don’t use pectin for this jam.
For your last question: I think meyer lemons should work fine for this recipe. Although I’m not 100% sure, I don’t think you need to reduce the sugar because we use the zest and they still need sugar. If the zest of your lemons are sweet too, then maybe you can use 150g sugar instead of 200g.
Hope these help.
Would love to hear the result when you try! Feel free to come back here and share it.
I made the lemon marmalade, but it did not thicken at all! Way to runny to put on toast. I even cooked it longer, but that did not make any difference.
I was hoping to give the marmalade to friends for gifts. Is there anything I can do to thicken the mixture, or do I just throw it out? It tastes ok so I could possibly use it as a topping for cheesecake. Other ideas appreciated.
You can add a few drops of lemon and then simmer it for some minutes to thicken the jam.
Could one of the problems of the jam being runny be because people are not covering the pot to let it simmer? I think I made that mistake.
Well, I don’t cover the pot indeed. I’m not sure what makes it runny. You can add extra lemon juice and simmer for 5-10 minutes more to make it thicker.
What sugar do you use
Hi Vanessa, I use regular granulated sugar.
Just made this and I zested 4 lemons and then cut up 1 of those 4 lemons. I used a fine grater for 3 and a course grater for 1. Also I cooked it for 10, 10, then 60 mins to get the right consistency but it’s nice and clear.
I bought a bag of beautiful lemons a week ago and they are perfect to make this jam now. Making 3 jars tomorrow. thanks. I love citrus jams that have a little tart flavor to them. Two of my best friends love it also, so they’ll be happy. Thanks much.
Hi Zerrin,
I made one jar of his jam today with Meyers lemons. I followed the directions exactly, but after the 30 minutes, it was still runny. so i thought I would cook a bit longer, 30 minutes longer but it still didn’t setup. It does taste lovely and the color is beautifully clear. I hoped that it would set up when i put it in to the refrigerator to cool. Butt hat didn’t happen either. So if you have any suggestions to get it to set up . would appreciate it. I thought of pectin but wasn’t sure how much for one small jar.
I am new to your site & love your recipes.
Thank you, CJ
Hi CJ,
I’m sorry you didn’t get the des,red result. Could it be because of Meyer lemons? as far as I know they are sweeter and less acidic. Maybe it’s better to add a little (1 tablespoon) tangy lemon juice. Simmer for 5 minutes and remove from heat. Tangy lemon juice will help it get thicker.
Hope this helps.
Happy to hear that you loved our blog!
Thank you Zerrin for the suggestion & for the quick response. I will try that & let you know if that worked or not.
If it doesn’t work , there is always vanilla ice cream. 🙂
CJ
I hope it works. And I love your idea if it doesn’t. Lol!
so 4 lemons are used, 3 only for the zest. one entire lemon is used for the remainder of the jam?. are seeds used for extracting pectin? in a cloth bag so they can be removed easily..this might aid in jelling. Also, not using the variety of lemons you mention that are extra tart/?bitter..another variety might mean one does not need to extract so much bitterness from the peel. The peel is a source of pectin also. by pouring off the water several times, you are deleting a lot of the pectin too. This means some experimenting could be done on other varieties. If people have a large quantity start with a single recipe amount and be prepared to play around a bit to get good results. I do not find ordinary lemons that bitter, just they can be really strong tasting. Meyer Lemons are milder and a better result can easily be obtained.