Lemon Marmalade

So I wanted to make lemon meringue thumbprint cookies, but couldn’t find lemon jam in any market or store that I went to. Sometimes life sucks, but I guess if my biggest problem is not being able to find the right flavor of jam for a recipe, my world isn’t quite so bad. It’s not like I can’t make jam, right? It’s just a pain when you have to make three cups of it, when you really only need a half of a cup for the recipe you’re creating. The rest of this marmalade will be going into the freezer for future use, thank goodness for the Ball Plastic Freezer Jars I bought last year. Now if I can just find a use for the eight extra lemons I purchased. Never mind, I think it may be the perfect time of year to start enjoying vodka tonics with lemon. Hmmm, I wonder if vodka tonics would taste good with a teaspoon of lemon marmalade swirled in?

Ingredients:

4 Whole Lemons
Juice of 1 Lemon
6 Cups of Water, Separated
2 1/2 Cups of Granulated Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt

Directions:

Quarter the lemons, removing the center membrane and seeds.
Grate the lemons using a food processor.
Place the grated lemons in a medium saucepan, add 2 cups of water, and then boil for 10 minutes.
Drain the water off of the lemons, place back into the same saucepan, add 2 cups of water, and then boil for 10 minutes.
Drain the water off of the lemons, and pick out any seeds that may have made it into the mixture.
Place the boiled lemon mixture back into the same saucepan again; add 2 cups of water, juice of 1 lemon, sugar, and salt.
Bring the mixture to a boil, and then lower the heat to medium; cook for 30 minutes, stirring at least every 5 minutes.
Pour the lemon marmalade into glass jars; set aside to cool.
When the marmalade has cooled, place the lids on the jars, and then refrigerate.

Suggestions:

Boiling the grated lemon twice helps to get rid of the bitterness, so don’t skip this step.
I had a hard time getting my marmalade to thicken, so I added more sugar at different times in the cooking process, and also cooked the mixture at a higher temperature than recommended. I’m guessing that the instructions that I gave above will result in a desired jam-like consistency.
Make sure to use jam or mason jars, which will withstand the heat of the marmalade without breaking.
This marmalade should keep in your fridge for several weeks.