A Meyer lemon has a thinner peel and less white pith than a Eureka, and that explains much of the gap between their marmalades. Eureka lemons, sharp and very acid, make the classic lemon marmalade, clearly bitter at the finish. Meyers make a softer, sweeter jar. Either one sets with no added pectin.
Which is best depends on the marmalade you want. Our view: Eureka if you want lemon marmalade that tastes like lemon marmalade has always tasted, Meyer if a sharp jar sits unfinished in your fridge.
Eureka and Meyer lemons side by side
| Eureka | Meyer | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A true lemon, selected in Los Angeles from Italian seed planted in 1858 | A hybrid, likely citron × a mandarin–pummelo cross |
| Peel | Medium-thick, yellow, slightly rough | 1/8 to 1/4 inch (3–6 mm), soft, yellow-orange |
| Juice | Very acid | Moderately acid |
| Seeds | Usually few to none | Moderately seedy |
| Main crop | All year, mostly late winter to early summer | Mostly winter |
| In marmalade | Sharper, more bitter, less sweet | Rounder, more floral, less bitter |
Sources: UC Riverside Citrus Variety Collection (Eureka and Meyer) and Julia Morton's Fruits of Warm Climates (Purdue University). Our own two jars supply the last row.
Which lemon makes the more bitter marmalade?
The Eureka, because it has more pith. That white layer under the zest carries the bitterness, and how much of it goes into the pot decides how bitter the jar ends up. Whole-fruit marmalade, where the pith stays in, is usually the most bitter kind; cut-rind marmalade, where the zest is sliced off and the pith cut away, is the gentler starting point, as Marisa McClellan lays out in her guide to making marmalade.
A Eureka's medium-thick rind gives you a real choice, since the pith is there to keep or trim. On a Meyer there's much less of it to decide about, and the lower acid means the batch can take less sugar, a point Julie O'Hara made writing for NPR's Kitchen Window in 2009.
On the sweet-to-bitter scale for our own range, Eureka lemon sits seventh of eight and Meyer lemon fifth. Only Duncan grapefruit is more bitter than the Eureka.
Does lemon marmalade need added pectin?
No. If they aren't overripe, lemons carry the pectin and acid a gel needs, so sugar is the only addition; the National Center for Home Food Preservation puts them in Group I of its pectin and acid chart. Oranges are a group down, short enough on one or the other that a cook may have to supply it, which is why McClellan suggests adding a lemon to sweet orange or mandarin batches.
Most of the pectin sits in the white membrane, which is why the NCHFP's citrus marmalade recipe keeps part of it on the peel. Seeds are the other store: BBC Good Food's lemon marmalade ties the pips in muslin and boils them with the fruit to help the set.
The two lemons split the difference: a Eureka brings more pith but few seeds, a Meyer little pith but a moderate seed count, so save the seeds and bag them.
Making marmalade with Eureka lemons
Eurekas are around for more of the year. UC Riverside describes the tree as everbearing, with fruit spread through the year, and it has been one of California's two main lemon varieties, with the Lisbon, for well over a century.
Their sourness helps the set, since the NCHFP counts acid as essential to a gel, not only to flavor. The cost is the thicker pith. The NCHFP method simmers the sliced peel in water for half an hour and pours that water off before any sugar goes in, which takes some of the bitterness with it. For a still gentler jar, trim the pith away, tie it in cheesecloth with the seeds and membranes, and let the bundle cook with the fruit, as McClellan does for cut-rind marmalade; its pectin reaches the pot while the bitter strips stay out of the jar.
Making marmalade with Meyer lemons
Meyers are a winter fruit, from about November into March or April by NPR's reckoning, so this is a seasonal batch. The fruit is also too tender and juicy to store well, according to UC Riverside, which is a reason to cook it soon after picking or buying.
With little pith to draw on, a Meyer batch gets more of its pectin from the seeds. The lower acid is also why it needs less sugar: there's less sourness to cover. The flavor that comes through is floral, with a mandarin edge from the fruit's mixed parentage.
The two lemon marmalades we make
We make both. The Eureka Lemon Marmalade starts with lemons from our heritage grove in Redlands, planted in 1897 and harvested in summer, and judges at the 2026 World Marmalade Awards gave it two Bronzes; its tasting notes open on lemon drop and end on clean lemon peel. Our Meyer Lemon Marmalade uses Meyers grown off Victoria Avenue in Riverside by one small family operation. Neither label lists added pectin or acid.
The Eureka's Gold Rush-era arrival in California is covered in our look at the state's specialty citrus, and the California marmalade guide shows where both jars sit among our eight.
Photo by Myfanwy Owen on Unsplash.
