Published: May 14, 2019 · Modified: Jan 29, 2021 by Zerrin & Yusuf

Homemade Lemon Jam

Name: Homemade Lemon Jam
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 55 min
Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients: 4 lemons (3 of them for their zest, 1 of them to be chopped); 3/4 cup sugar; 2 cups water; 2 cups extra water to boil lemons zest

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Make the best Lemon Jam at home with this super easy recipe. You need 3 simple ingredients only: lemons, water and sugar. No pectin here. Fill your crepes or top your cakes and tarts with it.

You really don' need pectin when making jams. Here are our other jam recipes without pectin: Black mulberry jam, easy strawberry jam, orange jam and unripe figs jam.

Homemade lemon jam in a jar accompanied by flowers

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 bread. I have another plan with it though. I’m going to make lemon jam thumbprint cookies and fill them with it very soon!

Don’t you think even the name of this recipe sounds 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 us a big box of lemons 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!

These lemons are coming from Mersin, which is a city famous for its citrus fruit. The lemons from there have such a heavenly fragrance that when you cut them in halves, you feel like you’re in a citrus yard!

So making jam with those lemons was my solution to keep the flavor of those wonderful lemons longer in our kitchen. 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! So use the best lemons you can find to make this jam. Maybe I could use some of them to make Turkish Delight with lemon flavor next time.

What Goes In Lemon Jam Recipe

We don't need many ingredients for this recipe. You can make it right now if you have lemons, water and sugar. Nothing else is needed. This is the basic version of making lemon jam. If you want to enrich the flavor, add different ingredients like nuts or ginger.

Lemons are used in three different forms in this jam:

Lemon zest
Chopped lemons
Lemon juice

Woman chopping lemons to make lemon marmalade jam

Lemon Marmalade or Jam?

Do you know the difference between marmalade and jam? To my childhood knowledge, they have two main differences. Marmalade is thicker than jam and looks more like fruit puree. This is how we know in Turkish cuisine. When I searched these terms on the Internet, I discovered a few more details.

For one thing, jams contain fruit pulp and are like a combination of smashed fruit and sugar.

Marmalades, on the other hand, are made with citrus fruit and contain the peel of the fruit. Please read more about this on Primer Magazine:

What's The Difference Between Jelly, Jam, Marmalade, Preserves and Fruit Spread?

So I think we can call this lemon marmalade recipe too because it has lemon zest and chopped lemons with the skin on.

Making Lemon Jam

The recipe has three straightforward steps.

First, prepare the lemons. Grate the zest of three lemons in a small bowl. Squeeze one of them. Put the lemon juice and grated lemons aside. Slice the fourth lemon into thin strips or chop it in bite size pieces or even in rings.

Lemon zest and chopped lemon in a pot for lemon jam making.

Cooked lemon slices and lemon zest on a strainer with a small wooden spoon. — Lemon zest and chopped lemon in a pot for lemon jam making.

Second step is about removing the bitterness of lemon peel. Put the lemon zest and chopped lemons in a pot. Pour water over them and bring it to boil. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Strain the lemon zest and lemon pieces, put them back in the pot with clean water and repeat this step for the second time. Bring it to boil, simmer for 10 minutes and strain.

Woman pouring lemon juice in a pot with lemon zest to make lemon jam.

Hands stirring lemon jam with a wooden spoon in a pot. — Woman pouring lemon juice in a pot with lemon zest to make lemon jam.

Third step is about making the jam. Put the cooked lemon pieces and zest in the pot along with sugar and water. Bring it to boil over medium high heat and simmer for 30 minutes over medium low heat. Let it cool in the pot and then keep it in a jar. You will see it is still runny when you remove it from heat. Don't worry! It will get the right consistency as it cools down.

Woman with a blue shirt taking a spoon of lemon jam from a jar

I'm leaving the image in the original post which was published in 2013 when we don't have much experience about food photography.

Other Lemon Recipes

Lemon Cookies (naturally yellow)
Lemon Ice Cream Recipe
Lemon Poppy Seed Cake With Oil

Other Jam Recipes

As always: If you make this recipe, let us know what you think by rating it and leaving a comment below. And post a pic on Instagram too—tag @give_recipe so we can see!

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