Lemon Honey Marmalade

5 from 4 votes

Here’s a recipe for homemade Lemon Honey Marmalade. It’s a sweet and tart version of old-fashioned marmalade. It’s made with only 3 ingredients and refined sugar and pectin free. That makes this AIP jam, paleo and AIP friendly.

Prep Time2

Cook Time2

Chill Time2

Total Time6

Course: Condiment

Cuisine: American

Servings: cups

Calories: 1593kcal

Author: Beth Chen

Equipment

Stock Pot
Cheese Cloth
Paring Knife
Candy Thermometer

Ingredients

5 pounds Lemons
4 cups Honey
1 cups Water divided

Instructions

Put a few small plates in the freezer as you'll use them to test the marmalade later.
Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest in strips from lemons. Cut strips into 1-by-1/8 inch strips. With a knife, cut off all white membrane, or pith, from peeled lemons. Discard the pith and membranes.
Working with one piece at a time, set fruit on its cut end and use a sharp knife to remove the white pith from the outside. Be as precise as possible—you really don't want any of the pith left on the fruit, as it is terribly bitter. Discard the pith.
Hold the peeled fruit over large bowl to catch the juice and hold with one hand. Then use a sharp paring knife to cut out the sections, letting the sections drop into the bowl below. Pick out the seeds and set them aside. You'll actually use them later.
Once you've cut the sections out of the fruit, you'll be left with a handful of the membrane that separates the lemon sections. Over the bowl with squeeze out as the remaining juice into the bowl with the lemon sections. Discard the membranes. Again, do not throw the seeds away.
Fill a stock pot with 2 cups of water and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, add the zest and continue boiling over high heat for 10 minutes. Drain the water from the saucepan, leaving the zest then fill the saucepan with 2 cups of water again. Place the stock pot over the stove over high heat and set the timer for 10 minutes. One last time drain the water from the saucepan, fill with 2 cups water, place over high heat and set the timer for 10 minutes. Drain one last time while leaving the zest.
Add the fruit juices, water and honey into the stock pot along with zest. Stir to dissolve the honey and bring everything to a boil, about 10 minutes.
While the lemon mixture is heating up, make the ‘pectin bag.’ Put the seeds in a double layer of cheesecloth. Lay a large layer of cheesecloth in a medium bowl or plate and add the seeds on top. Tie the ends of the cheesecloth together so the seeds are held inside. You’re essentially making a teabag out of the cheesecloth or a ‘pectin bag.’
Once the lemon mixture starts to boil, add the "pectin bag" to the mix. Let cook for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
For the final marmalade to set, it needs to be 220 F for at least 5 minutes. You can use a candy thermometer, but if you don't have one, you will need to do several tests using those frozen plates. If you’re not using a candy thermometer, make sure to watch it as it thickens. It’s easy to get distracted and forget about it on the stove.
After the marmalade has reached 220 F and stayed there for 5 minutes, you test the marmalade by dropping a spoonful of the mixture on one of the chilled plates you set in the freezer earlier. Let it sit for a minute, swirl the plate to spread the marmalade, then drag your finger through the mixture. If the marmalade is ready, it will leave a clean track behind it. The mixture will have also reduced and be thicker than water. When you hold your spoon up, you will notice that the liquid doesn’t roll off the spoon as quickly. You don’t want it to look super thicker and already like marmalade as it will continue to thicken as it cools. If it’s already super thick then it was end up hardening as it cools and won’t spread.
Once it’s finished cooking, remove the pectin bag from the marmalade. Use a large spoon to press the bag against the side of the pot to get as much of the marmalade out of the bag as possible. Discard the bag and its contents.
Remove the pot from the heat and let the marmalade mixture sit for about 5-10 minutes before transferring it to the jars. You’ll want it to cool slightly before transferring it to jars.

Notes

This is as advance recipe. It is not for beginners.
Use fresh lemons. Older lemons will have tougher peels and you’ll have a hard time removing them.
You must use home grown or organic lemons for this recipe. Anything else will have a waxy coating which you don’t want to consume. Either way, the must be clean as you’re eating the inside and outside of the orange. Nothing goes to waste in this recipe.
Instead of using pectin which is a processed manmade product, we’re using the seeds. The bitter seeds are used because they naturally contain pectin, which is a thickener and is what will "set" the marmalade. You will use these parts of the fruit to make a large teabag or "pectin bag."
This is the thermometer that I used. This was the recipe that convinced me to get a candy thermometer.
To test the marmalade, by dropping a spoonful of the mixture on one of the chilled plates you set in the freezer earlier. Let it sit for a minute, swirl the plate to spread the marmalade, then drag your finger through the mixture. If the marmalade is ready, it will leave a clean track behind it. The mixture will have also reduced and be thicker than water. When you hold your spoon up, you will notice that the liquid doesn’t roll off the spoon as quickly.
You’ve over cooked your marmalade if looks super thick and already looks like marmalade as it will continue to thicken as it cools. If it’s already super thick then it was end up hardening as it cools and won’t spread. You’ll end up with a taffy or hard candy-like substance. Not bad, but not marmalade. There’s a fine line between done and over cooked.
Make sure to store in glass jars as citrus is too acidic for metal.
This recipe can be stored in the fridge or freezer but it’s shelf stable. You’ll need separate canning instructions for that to be done safely.
Keep in mind that this recipe will continue to congeal as it cools.
Do not try to transfer boiling liquid to jars. You can easily burn yourself and break the glass jars with such hot liquid.
If you over cook this recipe, you can put it into a stock pot with some water and heat it until melted and combined. The amount of water will depend upon how overcooked it is. But don’t go overboard. A quick way to loosen it up is just throw the jar or just a small bowl of marmalade into the microwave with a few teaspoons of water so help it melt as you’re ready to use it.
Don’t over fill the mason jars if you plan on freezing them. Fill only to the fill line otherwise they may break as the marmalade expands.
Don’t put hot marmalade filled mason jars directly into the freezer. Going from super-hot to super cold can easily break the glass.
If you are looking for an instant pot version, try my Instant Pot Orange Marmalade.

Nutrition