Marmalade by the numbers
I finished the last of my cranberry citrus marmalade some months ago – just before Jennie Perillo posted on her blog: In Jennie’s Kitchen: Clementine Rosemary Marmalade. Perfect timing. And that post referenced a previous post of hers: Meyer Lemon, ginger & mint marmalade… oh, YUM!
Jennie notes in the Clementine recipe that she used the same ratios as is in the Meyer Lemon recipe. I love understanding the ratios…be it baking or marmalade or any recipe…it is the ratios: how much of this with how much of that makes things come out right. huh…interesting life metaphor as well. But back to marmalade. I intended to make Jennie’s Clementine Rosemary marmalade the weekend following her post. But, life and motivation… Fast forward to several weeks ago when clementines became unavailable here. RATS!
Blood oranges and meyer lemons were done as well. BUT, I did manage to snag an order of blood oranges and pixie mandarins from a grower in the San Joaquin valley of California. A week and a half ago, 30 pounds of blood oranges and 20 pounds of pixie mandarins arrived on my doorstep.
Marmalade does not take a lot of fruit. And Jennie’s recipe is a perfect quantify that results in 2 pints, i.e. 4 half pints…enough to keep me going for awhile. And the other thing about that smaller recipe – although I procured a large canning pot and rack, it is so big and my stove burners are not big and it is a bit of a pain to deal with. The smaller recipe was perfect and allowed me to experiment with my citrus mix: 2 blood oranges, 3 pixie mandarins and 2 lemons.
This fruit is not organic so I let it swim in a bath of vinegar and water for a bit and then gave it a good scrub before slicing it.
So pretty!
The other thing I learned as I perused recipes is that the pith and seeds of citrus contains pectin. So…you do not need to add pectin when you make marmalade…pectin and sugar being the things that cause the fruit to “jell”.
A lot of recipes have you peeling the citrus, removing the pith and seeds, bunding the pith and seeds in cheesecloth and including that bundle in the cooking of the fruit and sugar, thus providing the pectin without the pith and seeds getting into the marmalade. A lot of work and for my money, not necessary. The pith and seeds cook down and they provide the bit of “bitter” that IS marmalade. I followed Jennie’s recipe of lopping off the ends of the fruit, halving (mandarin and lemon) or quartering (blood oranges) and slicing very thin.
The fruit/water/sugar mix is on the rolling boil, another pot holds the jars and a third has the lids.
And per the numbers in Jennie’s recipe, 4 half pint jars of gorgeous marmalade are the result. So easy, so much less mess than a huge batch. I will make another couple of small batches experienting with rosemary, ginger and basil.
Marmalade by the numbers!
For those not interested in marmalade… Mr. Bear – enjoying a lazy sunday afternoon…too bad he does not have a comfy place to nap…