I made marmalade! I’ve been seeing recipes for it here and there, so I decided to give it a go. I don’t even like the stuff, but it looked so pretty and appetizing on peoples’ blogs. I couldn’t resist!
Since I like to mix things up a bit, I chose to make it with grapefruits instead of oranges. I had a few problems, but hey, it worked in the end! This is pretty impressive, considering it’s the first thing I’ve tried to can.. My jars – they’re sealed!
Some things I learned…
There’s not always enough natural pectin in a grapefruit, especially when there are hardly any seeds.
I probably should have added more apple (wrapped in cheesecloth) sooner (for pectin).. or broke out a box of certo
Runny grapefruit marmalade is still delicious, even though I thought I disliked all marmalade. I call this success! (Plus, my marmalade-loving friend gave me two thumbs up on this batch)
I’m so excited to try other jams and jellies and fun things.. It’s just too bad that I don’t eat them very often. I should probably get back on the whole bread baking thing, but with that comes less healthy eating.. ho hum.. what a dilemma. – I’ll eat the bread, of course!
Plain Old Marmalade
Makes 4-6 cups depending how long you boil it down for.
Ingredients:
4 grapefruit or other citrus
5 cups water
pinch salt
4 cups sugar
Directions:
Cut the grapefruit in half and poke out the seeds; put them into a tea ball if you have one, or wrap them in cheesecloth. Slice the grapefruit thinly and then chop them crosswise as big or small as you like. Put them (and the tea ball) into a pot with the water and salt and bring to a boil; simmer for half an hour. Turn off the heat and let it sit for a few hours or overnight.
Stir in the sugar and bring the mixture to a boil. Cook for another hour, or until the mixture gels; you can test it by dropping a small spoonful onto a saucer that you get nice and cold in the freezer while the marmalade simmers. When the marmalade is the consistency you like remove it from the heat, pull out the tea ball of orange seeds and divide into clean, warm jars and seal or cool completely and store in the fridge or freeze.
To aid with sealing, set full, loosely lidded jars into a boiling pot of water for about 10 minutes, then remove and allow to cool.
Thank you for sharing a container with me!!
I just used it this evening for a batch of granola. It has a really cool bitter-sweet zing to it! Can’t wait to try it for breakfast tomorrow ;)