Leftover Lemon Peel Jam

This zesty and delicious lemon preserve recipe uses the leftover lemon peels in your fridge. It makes for a fruity and fresh jam that is sweet, sour and has a slight bitter marmalade like taste.

I made a lemon tart the other day (recipe dropping soon) which left me with 5 lemon peels aka carcasses. I was going to make a body scrub but I decided to make a simple lemon jam instead. I did a bunch of research and most of the recipe I found suggested using whole lemons with the juice and the zest, these lemons I had in the fridge were already juiced and zested for my tart, I mean they had lemon flavor but not packing a punch like a whole lemon would. Until I came across this blog called Thrifty Lesley and she had a Lemon Peel Jam which inspired my recipe here.

I love the fact that this recipe is based on the quantity of lemons you have leftover, it truly is a leftover over makeover recipe. All you need to make this recipe is leftover lemon peels, sugar and water. But I have added salt and vanilla as well. The texture is chunky but I like it that way. It is sweet from the sugar, sour from the lemons and a little bitter like marmalade but so good. I can eat this stuff on its own but it pairs well with pretty much anything.

What is a leftover makeover recipe?

A leftover makeover recipe is basically something you make from leftovers which you would throw out. I absolutely love this kind of recipes as they use up ingredients which you would have thrown out but have made something so delicious from it. This is how they would live in the earlier days, every part of the ingredient was used for better purposes and turned into so many different things (not just food).

What are leftover lemons?

Leftover lemons are those lemons which you have squeezed the juice out of for a lemonade or for your salad dressing etc. it could also be the lemons you have zested the skin off and might have squeezed a little of the juice out as well. They are basically the lemon peels that you have leftover from using them previously.

What to do with leftover lemons?

You can use leftover lemon peels for many things, use them in salad dressings, to make buttermilk, they are a flavor bomb when roasting chicken or meat, lemon flavored salt or sugar etc. or make jam, like this.

What is jam made of?

Traditionally jam is made with sugar that is laced with pectin or sugar and pectin powder, lemons are naturally high in pectin hence we don’t use pectin to make this jam. You can use any fruit to make a jam or a combination of fruit. I am very interested in trying this recipe with strawberries and raspberries at some point but for now we are using leftover lemons to make it.

Is this leftover lemon peel jam a traditional recipe?

However this jam recipe is not a traditional jam recipe that uses thermometers or jam jars etc. I have made a simple jam here that is similar to a marmalade or preserve. We cook it until thick and store it in a glass jar.

What ingredients do you need to make this leftover lemon peel jam?

To make this recipe we need leftover lemon peels, sugar, water, salt and vanilla. I think the salt and vanilla are optional if you would like to leave them out. If you like, you are welcome to add whole lemons with juice and zest into this recipe as well. I have used white sugar I have not tried it with any other sugar and hence wouldn’t recommend any other.

This recipe is beautiful as the quantity of ingredients needed is based on what you have. After cooking and blending my lemons and water my mixture was 500g so you want to add half the amount of sugar which would have been 250g but I added 125g (as I didn’t want it very sweet). You can add as much as you prefer.

What equipment do you need to make this leftover lemon peel jam?

To make this jam we need a sauce pot, blender, knife, spatula, and glass jar to store the jam once it is ready.

How to make this leftover lemon peel jam?

Place the leftover lemon peels into a sauce pot and pour enough water to cover them. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat. Cook on low to medium heat until soft – this can take 20 to 30 minutes depending on the size of the pot and the quantity of the lemons. Add more water to cover the lemon peels if needed. Once soft, save a couple of the lemon peels and chop them up, transfer the rest of the mixture with the water into a blender and blender together until smooth (we are not looking to make baby food). Pour it back into the sauce pot, add the chopped lemon peel, sugar, salt and cook again on medium. This time until it bubbles, stirring constantly for at least 10 minutes. The mixture will get thicker. Take off the heat once thicker and the sugar is completely dissolved, add the vanilla, stir until combined. Transfer to a glass jar, close with the lid and place at room temperature while hot, once cooled transfer to the fridge.

Serving this lemon peel jam?

Once this jam is ready, you can serve with with yogurt, over buttered toast, vanilla ice cream, use it in a cake filling, in pies, tarts etc. It is so good with buttered toast though. My personal favorite for sure.

Storing this lemon peel jam?

This jam can be stored in the fridge for 3 weeks, make sure not to use a wet spoon when using from the jar or else it will get moldy. I have stored this jam in ie cube trays and frozen them for 3 months as well, defrosted and used but the flavor intensity increases when you freeze it.

Looking for more leftover make over recipes?

Now that we have covered how to make this Leftover lemon peel jam, you can have a look at the recipe video on my socials but let’s get to it. Don’t forget to follow along for more fun recipe inspiration.

If you try this recipe out, don’t forget to share it with me on pinterest & instagram so I can see how it turned out. I’d love nothing more than to chat with you on your cooking/baking.

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