While the fruit and water are heating up, add reserved lemon seeds to a cheesecloth bag with a tie or place seeds in a piece of cheesecloth that you can tie with kitchen twine. Drop it into the pot. Bring the fruit to a boil, turn heat back to simmer and cook for 60-75 minutes, stirring occasionally until water evaporates and preserves start to thicken. Remove cheesecloth with lemon seeds from pot. If you’d like a smoother consistency preserve, use an immersion blender to pulse the preserves and rind until desired consistency is achieved.

Preserves will gel more as they cool. It’s crucial not to overcook preserves and keep a close eye on it during the last 10-20 minutes as they can burn easily.