A delicious sweet and tangy lemon jelly made with fresh lemon juice.
HOW TO MAKE LEMON JELLY
With very few exceptions, I always make my own jams, marmalades or jellies. I have a few recipes on the blog already, for instance the Simple Apricot Jam or the Tangy and Aromatic Rhubarb Strawberry Jam , but most of the jams I make are not even mentioned here.
There are just too many of them, they are all so simple to make and I make many of them with the German special sugar for jams, which is not easily available outside Germany. That kind of sugar is very convenient, you can make lower sugar jams with it and most of all, it makes jam making so easy and fast. Mix the ingredients, bring to a boil and boil for four minutes. That's it!
No need to worry about the pectin content of various types of fruit or berries, no need to check if the jam is ready for what it feels like a 100 times, no long cooking times... That is why I would rather use that when making jam, it is just so easy.
JELLY WITHOUT PECTIN
But from time to time I make a regular jam as well, the way my grandmother used to make it in Romania, just fruit and regular sugar. Like this lemon jam. Well, this is not exactly a jam, it is not made with fruit, just with the juice of citrus fruit. I love it!
It is sweet yet totally tangy, sticky and utterly delicious! If you are into citrus fruit and sweet spreads, you should definitely try it, you will love it!
Even if I would have had the special jam sugar in the house when I decided to make this jelly, I would not have used it. Lemons have naturally so much pectin, they really do not need any additional help to form a nice jelly.
INGREDIENTS FOR LEMON JELLY
Lemons: freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Clementines: freshly squeezed clementine juice. Clementine juice is optional, but recommandable, it makes the lemon jelly mellower.
Sugar: regular, granulated sugar.
HOW LONG TO BOIL LEMON JELLY?
- The cooking time was much shorter than I had pictured it to be. I had made jellies with regular sugar before and I remember having to boil the jelly for quite a while until it was sufficiently set.
- But not this time, I started checking after about 10 minutes and I stopped cooking the jelly after 15 minutes.
- The cooking time might be different depending on the pot you use. My pot was large and wide and that sped up the process, if your pot is higher and less wide, it might take a bit longer.
HOW TO CHECK IF THE JELLY IS DONE?
- To check if the jelly is done, set a saucer in the freezer before you start cooking the jelly.
- After about 10 minutes cooking time, pour a few drops of the jelly on the cold saucer. If the jelly sets on the saucer and you are able to trace a line through the jelly, then the jelly is ready.
- If not, return the pot to the burner and continue boiling the lemon jelly for a couple of minutes more. Check again and continue in this manner until the jelly is set.
- Careful not to overdo it, if you cook the jelly for too long, it will get so hard you will not be able to get it out of the jar once set. And I am speaking out of experience here... I managed that a couple of times at the beginning of my jelly/jam cooking times.
Other recipes with lemons:
Layered Romanian Lemon Cake - Lamaita or Alba ca Zapada
Harry Potter's Treacle Tart
Amazing Lemon or Lime Buttermilk Torte - German Recipe
Italian Skillet Lemon Chicken with Herbs
Traybake Lemon Cake with Sprinkles
PIN IT FOR LATER!
Lemon Jelly Recipe
Ingredients
- 500 ml/ 17 fl.oz/ 2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 250 ml/ 8.5 fl.oz/ 1 cup freshly squeezed clementine juice
- 750 g/ 1.6 lbs/ 3 ¾ cups sugar
Instructions
- Place a saucer in the freezer.
- Sterilize the jars. For more information regarding sterilizing jars, have a look at this post.
- Squeeze the lemons to obtain 500 ml/ 2 cups juice and the clementines to obtain 250 ml/ 1 cup juice. Strain the juice to remove the pulp.
- Pour the juice into a large wide pot. Add the sugar and stir well.
- Bring to a boil, stirring well to dissolve the sugar. Once the mixture is boiling set the timer to 10 minutes. Stir often while the jelly is cooking.
- After 10 minutes of cooking time start checking the jelly. Place a small amount of jelly on the freezer saucer and wait for about 30 seconds. If you are able to trace a line through the jelly, a line that stays that way, then the jelly is done. If not, return the pot to the burner and continue boiling for a few minutes more.
- Try the consistency of the jelly again and continue in this manner until the consistency is right. The time the jelly needs to get the right consistency depends on the pot you are using. Mine was large and wide and that sped up the process, my jelly only needed 15 minutes.
- Pour the jelly into the sterilized jars and close well.
Miranda says
This looks so amazing! Thank you so much for sharing!
Adina says
Thank you, Miranda.
Rae says
Love anything lemon, this would make tempting to eat way to much toast, ha! Thank you for sharing this recipe. Do you think it would still set if the sugar in the recipe was reduced?
Adina says
I am not sure, Rae, I've never tried this with less sugar. The jelly is also very tart, it needs its sugar.
Jan Sessions says
I made this today using Myer Lemons. I started checking at 10 mins as suggested and finally called it set at 18 mins. I had a wide shallow heavy pan to cook it in. It looks and tastes amazing and was a great use for some of the juice I have left over after using peels for limoncello. I am sure we'll be making this simple recipe again!
Adina says
Hi Jan. It sounds great, thank you for the feedback. 🙂
Lot Clarke says
It is yummy!
jen says
Thank you for putting weight options, not many do and most in UK don't use US cups, I was able to make this and it is fantastic, recipe now safe in my book
Adina says
I live in Germany; we never use cups either. I think they are so unprecise and messy anyway; using them for blog purposes is always annoying.
Mayra says
Can this be water bath preserved or pressure canned for long term storage?
Adina says
Sure.
Chuck says
We just had a recipe for grape jelly, it stated that when the cooking mixture rose to 220 degrees Fahrenheit you should pull it off the stove. We were not sure about the thermometer and it went over long, once refrigerated the chilled jam was more like half-set caulk, it wanted to follow the knife not stick to toast. Might be a work around.
Gillian says
Lovely. How long will it last unopened in the fridge
Adina says
Hi. Very long, at least 6 months and probably longer.
Sara says
What size jars did you use? How much jelly does one batch make? Thanks!
Adina says
Hi Sara. I think one of the jars I used holds about 150 ml, but I never measured exactly. I just fill as many jars as needed. If the last one is not full, that's the one we eat first.
Carolyn says
Love it! I love lemon, lemon that still has a nice sour to it, not just all sugar. This recipe is it. Tastes like good old fashioned sour lemon drops.
I used just lemon juice, no clementine juice. Partly because I really just wanted lemon taste, but just for the sake of following and then judging a recipe, I was going to add clementine juice, but no clementines available in the stores.
I can't figure out why there aren't more recipes available for good tart lemon jellies/jams etc, it really is my favorite fruit.
Thanks for the recipe!
Adina says
Thank you for the feedback and the rating, Carolyn, I was very happy to read it. I like tart too.