Lemon marmalade for Sicilian pastries is an essential ingredient in many traditional sweets. This lemon marmalade—known in Sicily as conserva or marmellata di limone (or made with cedro) adds the intense, aromatic citrus flavour typical of the island’s baking.
Sicily produces an impressive variety of citrus fruit, including the thick-skinned cedro (citron).
Cedri, which resemble very large lemons, are eaten fresh in salads, but are most prized for being candied and used in cassate. Cedri are also transformed into sweet conserve and used in almond pastries and other desserts.
Sicilian pastries are often partly filled with lemon marmalade – Conserva or Marmellata di Limone o di Cedro (Citron).
In this blog post I have provided a recipe for making lemon Marmalade and one for Bocconotti, – small tarts with lemon marmalade.
Recently I have fallen in love again with the pastries from Dolcetti (223 Victoria St, West Melbourne) made by Marianna Di Bartolo.
These exquisite dolcetti rekindled my desire for that strong, distinctive citrus taste found in so many Sicilian sweets.
MY RESEARCH and Sicilian Recipe Books
Researching the recipe was a process in itself. I rarely follow a single recipe strictly and usually compare multiple sources, drawing on what I know from years of reading Italian and Sicilian cookbooks. Each of the numerous times I have visited Sicily (and Italy), I have bought cookery books – not only by the greats of Sicilian cuisine and highly recognized writers and publications (Coria, Correnti, Taylor Simeti, Tasca Lanza (and more) but also by the less known ones (Maria Consoli Sardo, Di Leo, D’Alba, and many more.
The variations in recipes for this preserve, including quantities and methods, were numerous across different publications. Some directed peeling the fruit first, others boiled the peel multiple times and discarded the water, while some added sugar after boiling the pulp. The number of variations for making marmalade was comparable to those found in older Australian publications.
Among the many variations, the recipes I found most compelling were Marmellata di Limone (Maria Grammatico & Mary Taylor Simeti) and Conserva di Citru (Giuseppe Coria).
Grammatico/Taylor Simeti soak pricked lemons in water for five days, changing the water daily. Coria soaks un-pricked lemons for 24 hours and includes a cinnamon stick—something I also noticed in several older Sicilian texts.
Grammatico and Taylor Simeti recommended weighing the pulp and using 1¼ times its weight in sugar.
Coria suggested adding 2 kg of sugar for every 3 kg of pulp and 1 cup of water. I particularly liked his recipe for the addition of a cinnamon stick, which was also mentioned in many of my older Italian publications.
What I did, RECIPE
Inspired, I decided to make a homemade conserva using large, thick-pith lemons—each weighing around 700g—treating them much like cedri.
Pricked the lemons (weight 2.1kg ) and soaked them for 3 days, changing the water every day to soften the skins.
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Sliced them into medium julienne with a mandoline for texture.
Used 1 kg sugar to 2 kg pulp, added 3 cinnamon sticks, and no water.
Cooked until set (about 40 minutes), using the traditional saucer test – You know the old trick about testing jam/ marmalade by placing a little on a cold saucer, cooling it, and if adequately set it should wrinkle and feel firm.
Packed the hot conserve into sterilised jars.
The result is an intensely flavoured, deeply lemony conserve—perfect for filling Sicilian pastries or adding bright citrus notes to desserts.
Cedro is used in Cassata and Panforte (not Sicilian).
PANETTONE AND PANFORTE for an ITALIAN CHRISTMAS
SICILIAN CASSATA and some background (perfect for an Australian Christmas)
SICILIAN CASSATA and MARZIPAN AT EASTER (Food and Culture in Sicily, La Trobe University)
CASSATA DECONSTRUCTED – a postmodernist take on Sicilian Cassata
Recipe: BOCCONOTTI
Italian bocconotti are small, buttery pastries filled with jam. In Sicily they are filled with citron (cedro) marmalade.
The tarts can be left open-faced or covered with slightly smaller pastry circles to create small lids, placed in the centre, but leaving a gap and not reaching the edges.
Ingredients
- 500 g plain flour
- 250 g sugar
- 150 g unsalted butter (traditional is lard for pastries)
- 2 eggs + 1 yolk
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or seeds of ½ vanilla bean
- 2–3 tbsp white wine (dry)
- 400 g marmellata – use the lemon marmalade
- Method
Make the pastry (pasta frolla)
- In a large bowl, mix the flour and sugar.
- Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Don’t overwork the pastry.
- Add the eggs, yolk, lemon zest, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of white wine.
- Work the dough quickly until it comes together—add the extra tablespoon of wine only if needed.
- Shape into a ball, flatten slightly, wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Use small tartlet tins or mini-muffin tins. Grease lightly with butter.
- Roll the pastry to about 3–4 mm thickness. Cut circles large enough to line the moulds.
- Press the dough gently into each mould. and fill generously with the marmalade but leave some space at the top
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan 170°C). Bake for 20–25 minutes, until pale golden.
- Cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then transfer to a rack.
It is such a dissappointment when we have such high expectations of what exactly we want to achieve. I can understand perfectly. I cook my cumquat marmalade and strawberry jam in the microwave and find the freshness and vibrance of the fruit is maintained. That may be an option. What about using cinnamon oil – I just received some from Italy. I’d love to know how you go!
Cinnamon oil!!! How lucky are you.
That sounds great- you can use it to enhance the taste of cinnamon ice cream. I ate quite a bit of this when I was in Palermo in September last year.
I have never used my microwave to make jam – it would need to be made in very small quantities and I imagine that it would spit everywhere.
Good luck with your cinnamon oil- I doubt if it could be purchased anywhere in Australia.
Thank you,
Marisa
Yes, cinnamon oil can’t be purchased in Australia – I have checked! And using it for cinnamon icecream now that’s a great idea!Thanks!
Making jam in the microwave does require scaling down but really doesn’t spit like you would think. You should try it! Just stir every 5 minutes. It only takes about 20 minutes.
I’m just thinking you could probably order the cinnamon oil on the internet! I’ll have to check!