How to Make & Can {French Style} Lemon Peel Syrup {Just Scraps & Sugar} ~ Citrus Series

{Note: I am excited to continue our Citrus Series this winter with this first post of the season!}

"When life gives you lemon scraps, you can make sweet syrup."

This "French inspired" lemon syrup is made from the leftover pieces of lemons we had after freezing containers of lemonade concentrates for our future summer enjoyment. Yes, with a bit of sugar, we were able to create and can this lovely syrup from the discarded peels, pith and seeds! This can be drizzled into seltzer water for a sparkling soda or water for a quick lemonade. Add it to your basic icing recipe to liven up a cake. Sweeten and flavor teas with it and anything else you can think of!

Simply toss all the leftover lemon scraps you have (peels, including the pith and even the seeds as they all contain pectin) into your crockpot and then place it in your fridge until bedtime. I am guessing you are much too tired from the project that created the scraps in the first place so that you will want to do this one tomorrow.

Now, add enough water to just cover the scraps, place the lid on your crock pot and turn it on "low". Lemons are buoyant so don't worry about the floaters as they don't need to be completely submerged. Let this slowly simmer overnight (about 6 - 8 hours) while you sleep and rest your weary, hardworking body.

Turn off the crock pot when you wake up and you can strain it once it cools down a bit (a few hours is fine as I waited until my morning routine was finished before I continued this).

To strain the juice, we lined our stock pot with a large paint strainer and dumped the cooled contents inside. You can use whatever system works for you.

Then we gathered it up like a jelly bag and let it hang over the pot in order to drain the excess liquid. Press any remaining juice through and make sure you measure your final volume of lemon water.

Next, place your measured juice in a large enough pot and bring it to a raging boil. Now that it is boiling aggressively, add your sugar.

You will need half the amount of sugar as there is liquid for this recipe. For instance, our liquid measured out at 12 cups so I added 6 cups of sugar.

Boil this mixture rapidly until it reaches a syrupy consistency or until at least 1/3 of the liquid has evaporated. This will take some time (about 20 to 30 minutes depending on your volume) and is a good moment to get all your canning gear in order. It is not necessary to stir the syrup continuously, just once in a while to make sure nothing is burning at the bottom (which it shouldn't).

When you reach your desired consistency, ladle the hot syrup into hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.

Wipe the jar rims, adjust the canning lids and begin processing for 5 minutes in a boiling water bath. For more detailed step by step canning directions, visit here.

Now for the "French" part. It really is these vintage labels (as you may have guessed) and the fact that France seems to sell lots of "Sirop de Citron" (aka lemon syrup). This just seemed like something you would find on an expensive Williams Sonoma shelf. Something that I normally couldn't afford but am now making with discarded pieces. Frugal and French... how can you go wrong?! You can either glue on your labels with a glue stick, or for a stronger adhesive, print them on sticker paper. You will find our free printable {here}.

Now, of course you could also choose to make cleaning products with the peels, or even tea blends, lemon pepper or lemon extract but today was simply a syrup making day for the humble pantry.

If you enjoyed this project, we share 100+ more ideas on how to use up fruit scraps in our Ebook here! Happy kitchen-crafting, ladies!

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