Karen Marie's lemon jam

With the high season of citrus fruit it is time to make various types of citrus jams here in February. I am starting out with a recipe from a good work colleague on lemon jam.

It takes some time to make this jam, as the lemon pieces have to soak cold in water for 24 hours, before it cooked into jam.

As citrus fruit is high in natural pectin it is possible to a gelled jam, if the amount of sugar is high enough (minimum 65% solids combined with low pH, high level of acidity).

I will be selling some of the jam jars at work to my colleagues, as I cannot eat 6-8 glasses of jam within reasonable time. And as usual I will donated the money to charity. From sale of various jams in November and December last year (quince jam, apple jam with vanilla & tomato & chilli jam) it was possible to donate 380 DKK to Julemærkehjemmene.

Karen Marie's lemon jam: - 6-8 glasses.

• 6 organic lemons with thin peel
• 1 l water
• 1 kg sugar
• potassium sorbate - optional

1. Wash the lemons thoroughly.
2. Do the cutting of the lemon on a chopping board, so all the lemon juice can be collected and used in the jam mixture.
3. Cut the lemons into smaller boat shapes. Afterwards slice the lemon "boats" into thin slices.
4. Remove the lemon seeds during the coating process, as they will give more bitterness in the final jam.
5. Lemon slices and lemon juice in added into a medium mixing bowl. Pour the water into the lemon mixture.
6. Store the lemon mixture cold in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
7. Pour the lemon mixture into a large cooking pot.
8. Let the lemon mixture simmer gentle for 1 hour with lid on the cooking pot.
9. Prepare the jam jars by filling them up with the boiling water.
10. If the lemon slices appear too thick, you could consider to blend the lemon mixture, before the addition of the sugar.
11. After 1 hours boiling add in the sugar.
12. Bring the lemon jam to a rolling boil and boil hard until the setting point is reached. Stir the jam frequently.
13. Test of set after 4-5 minutes using the flake test.
14. When the setting point is reached, remove the pan from the heat and leave it to stand for approx.  5 minutes. As the jam settles, push any scums from the surface of the pan to the side and remove it with a metal spoon. The purpose for the waiting step is well to build viscosity in jam, so the fruit pieces will be trapped inside the jam inside of be going to the top of jam.
15. Gently stir the jam after the resting time and pour it into the prepared glasses, fill the glasses up to the brim. Remove any scum for the surface of the jam using a tea spoon. Close the glass with a lid.
16. Leave the glass upright and disturbed to cool and set.
17. Store at ambient temperature.