Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Oh, how I love marmalade!

I only had one Meyer lemon on my tree this year.  The marmalade I made from it was like liquid gold.  I was feeling sad that my tree hadn't been more prolific and then....Trader Joe's came to the rescue.  They sell Meyer lemons!!!!  Oh, thank you, thank you, Trader Joe's.  I take back the negative things I've said about you not having bulk goods.  You've more than made up for it by having Meyer lemons.

Soooo, once I had my lemons, I wanted to make more of that liquid gold.  About that same time, my nephew and niece came through on their way home from Florida and left me with a bag of the best red grapefruits ever.  With those grapefruits and the Meyer lemons, my two favorite citruses, citri, citrus fruits, I made what I do believe to be the best marmalade ever!

Here's how to do it...


Chop the lemons and grapefruits into sort of small pieces.  You use the peel, too, so you don't want huge chunks in your finished marmalade.  It will look like this...


.
Measure your fruit and add the same amount of water to it.  Bring to a boil and then let simmer on lower heat for 5 minutes.  Pour the fruit/water mixture into a bowl you can cover and set in a cool place for 24 hours.

Next day....

Measure out your fruit/water mixture and add an equal amount of sugar to it.  Bring to a boil and stir constantly.


Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring, til a candy thermometer reads 220 degrees (F).  The mixture will gel a little but will still be pretty liquid.  It will thicken a bit as it cools.



Pour into sterilized jars.  At this point, I simply put on the lids and refrigerate.  I've only made batches big enough to get three pint sized jars so they don't stay around long.  I give them away and use them up!  Like I said, liquid gold.

*****
Thanks to Carla at recipezaar for this easy, easy recipe.  I modified it by changing up the fruit but otherwise followed her recipe.

1 comment:

Islandsparrow said...

I've made lots of jams but I've never tried marmalade. But this looks so easy - and so very pretty! - that I think I'll give it a go. I don't know if we have Meyer lemons up here but any lemon would do wouldn't it?

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Blessings!

xo
Kathie