Marmalade Wrap-Up

Funny thing about me and projects...  I do jump in head first!

At the grocery store yesterday, I popped in for just a few items... but found myself lingering at the citrus display....   I haven't made marmalade with blood oranges yet - or cara cara...  and I did find a recipe for lime coconut that intrigues me...

But I slapped my hands, remembering that I still do have a few fruits still at home - and I need the pleasure of a wrap-up!  [though I did promise myself that NEXT week.. if I still feel the same way.... I will buy the blood oranges!  ... or the cara cara... or something :-)]

What is marmalade?
According to Dictionary.com

"noun

1.

a jellylike preserve in which small pieces of fruit and fruit rind, as of oranges or lemons, are suspended."

 

or - in my words - Preserves (or jam) made with citrus fruit

 

I like the idea - it means I'm not throwing out the rind.  Less waste, right?

 

I do need to find more ideas for citrus peel!  Anyway - back to marmalade and what I learned....

 

 

There are several ways to prepare the fruit.... depending on the  thickness of the membranes (the 'skin; between the fruit segments) and the pith (that bitter white stuff between the outer rind and the fruit).  A good contrast would be a grapefruit - with tough membranes and thick bitter pith we do not usually eat.. and a naval orange which we peel the rind off and eat everything else.

My personal preferences for preparing (isn't it cool to have tried so many techniques that you now have a preference?) are as follows:

                            a) **Most favorite because it is the easiest!
                                     Chop up the whole fruit right away

                             b)  Boil the entire fruit... then cut up when cool

                             c) Supreme the fruit (cut off the two ends, stand up and carefully slice off rind, cut off pith, and then section out fruit)

C is my favorite for the fruits with thick membranes.  B can work with any type of citrus.

You always reserve the extra stuff (membranes, pith and seeds) because they are the natural source of pectin that will cause the marmalade to thicken.  [so you won't need to add pectin!)
                           
                                  
I learned about weighing fruit and using thermometer (still don't have a kitchen scale though)

   The weighing is important because you add sugar to the fruit cup for pound (1 cup sugar to 1 pound fruit).  I weighed and purchased at the store for these recipes.  But I did find several recipes that added sugar cup for cup (1 cup sugar to 1 cup processed fruit) and I found that to work for me.

    The thermometer - in theory, marmalade sets (becomes gel-like) at 220 degrees F.  I have an inexpensive candy thermometer that only hit 220F once.  I still do better with my eyes.. and the freezer plate method (you keep a plate in the freezer and drop a bit of the cooking marmalade on it.... if it doesn't RUN down the plate, it's ready)  So I kind of fell back upon my personal experience of how the jam mixture changes as it cooks!

I learned that I DO like marmalade :-)

I learned that I need to buy more quarter-pint jars because that is a better size for gifting and for my personal use (of jam stuff)  Today I am going to down size my tasting jars by canning some quarter pints.


and.. am really enjoying the Food Mastery Challenge.  Let's see how many months I can do this - bring on the SALT PRESERVING for February (whatever that is) .  

Batch #6 Honey-Lemon Marmalade

Still marmalad-ing!

Honey-Lemon Marmalade in Marisa McClellan's Preserving by the Pint  was next up on my agenda...

This recipe called for ANOTHER way to cut the fruit.....

slicing both ends off the lemon
   standing it on end and cutting 6 wedges
     cutting out the membrane and then laying the wedge rind side UP to slice..

I did one that way but it was a little tricky.... I did the rest with the supreming method I explained in an earlier post.. EXCEPT I left the pith (because I saw nothing in the first recipe saying to remove it)

I must say that 4.5 pounds of lemons is a LOT :-)  But I weighed it out in the grocery store - because I still don't have a food scale here at home...

Day 1 was slicing all that fruit (about 10 lemons)

Day 2  I made the marmalade - which was relatively uneventful - except for running out of my half pint jars.  I had a few quarter-pint ones though so I used those.  They might actually be better for gifting.. hmm...

I found the little 'Actually I Can' block in the clearance section at Joann's Fabric some time ago...  I keep it handy when my brain says "I couldn't do that!"      like ..... making marmalade :-)

The one thing I learned - for me - is that I need to take out the pith.  The product is a bit bitter for me though still tasty.

Today was the last day to enter the Food Mastery Challenge.. and I chose to enter the Cranberry Clementine marmalade.

I have to admit that I still have a grapefruit, a couple of lemons and 7 oranges in the house.... will we eat them or will I marmalade them?

I'll let you know!