One of the very first recipes I posted to this blog was one for Orange-Ginger Marmalade. I’m having a bit of a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that I’ve nearly cooked my way through an entire year of canning since then and that it’s time for marmalade, once again.
I’ve learned a great deal about preserves since then, and I think that this approach to marmalade is easier and more sensible that the one I originally took. This one used the outer layer of citrus zest, but discards the inner pith, making for easier chopping and a more tender product. I’m completely delighted with the way that this batch turned out, and last night, when I served it at a party along side a long of goat cheese, I felt so proud that it was something I had made in my own little kitchen.
To begin, weigh your fruit. Conventional fruit is fairly uniform in size these days, but there can still be a great deal of variety in weight, depending on storing conditions and length of time off the tree. I used 2 pink grapefruit, 3 lemons and four navel oranges and had approximately 4 and 1/2 pounds of fruit. Feel free to add or subtract a lemon or orange to achieve the right weight. Scrub your citrus well, so that you can feel good about including all that lovely, fragrant zest in your preserve.
Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest from your citrus. I tried every peeler I own (at least five) and found that the serrated peeler you see above did the best job. Please take care when using one of these tools though, as those little teeth are incredibly sharp. At one point, I slipped and ended up with a series of punctures in the tip of my pinky finger. Not pleasant when working with acidic citrus.
Once your citrus has been stripped, chop the zest into fine ribbons. I found that the best way to do this was to stack four or five strips of zest and then mince them (mind your fingers!) into bits about 1/4 of an inch wide. I found that my 4 1/2 pounds of fruit yielded approximately 2 1/2 cups of zest bits.
Fill a medium-sized pot with 6 cups of cold water, add your zest ribbons and bring to a boil. Simmer the zest for half an hour, until it’s tender and uniform in color. While it boils…
Use a sharp paring knife to break your naked fruit down. Take a grapefruit and cut the north and south poles off (to give yourself stable bases). Then, working top to bottom, cut the white pith off the fruit (you want to expose the interior surface of the fruit). When all the white pith is removed, use the knife to separate the fruit from the membrane of the fruit (this technique is called supreming and there’s a helpful tutorial over on Coconut & Lime, if my written instructions aren’t doing it for you). Collect the naked segments in a large measuring cup and reserve the membranes and seeds.
When all the fruit has been broken down, gather up the reserved seeds and membranes in a piece of cheesecloth. Bundle it up well and tie off the top, so that none of the seeds can escape. One does this because the seeds, membrane and pith contain a great deal of pectin. You will boil this bundle with the fruit while you make the marmalade, so that you extract the maximum amount of pectin from your fruit.
At this point, the zest should be done boiling. Drain the cooked zest, reserving the boiling water. This liquid has been infused with a great deal of citrus flavor and so some of it will be used in the marmalade.
Finally, it’s time to make marmalade! In a large, heavy-bottomed, non-reactive pot (a stainless steel or enameled dutch oven is your best bet there), combine the zest ribbons, the citrus segments (approximately 4+ cups), 4 cups of the zest cooking liquid, 6 cups of sugar and the cheesecloth bundle.
Bring the pot to a boil. It’s a good idea to use a big pot for this, so that you have plenty of room for the marmalade to bubble. Pair that large pot with a instant read thermometer with a temperature alarm, and you don’t have to watch it the entire time. Set the thermometer to 220 degrees (that’s the point at which the marmalade will achieve set), place the thermometer probe in the pot (balancing it so that you keep the cord away from the burner) and feel okay turning your back to do some dishes (return to it every 4-5 minutes to stir). This will need to boil for 30-40 minutes, in order to reach and sustain 220 degrees.
While it cooks, you can also prepare your canning pot, jars (for this recipe, they need to be sterilized, as this one is only processed for five minutes. I find that the easiest way to do this is to put them in the canning pot when you’re first filling it and bring them up to a boil along with the water), lids (simmer in a small saucepan over medium-low heat to soften the sealing medium) and rings.
Once the marmalade has reached 220 degrees and has stayed there for at least a minute, check the potential set by putting a small dab of the hot marmalade into the middle of a cold plate. Let it sit for a moment and then nudge it with your finger. If the surface wrinkles and seems firm, it is ready. If it is still quite runny, boil it for several additional minutes.
Once the text yields a good result, turn the heat off and remove the pot from the burner. Gently stir the marmalade for about a minute off the heat. I’ve learned over the years that this helps the zest distribute itself evenly throughout your preserve (I hate it when the solids clump towards the top of the jar, and this helps prevent that from happening).
Fill your jars (this recipe makes approximately 3 1/2 pints), leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. When they’re all filled, wipe the rims to remove any sticky residue, apply the lids and screw on the rims. Carefully lower the filled jars into the canning pot (don’t forget to put a rack in the pot). Process in a boiling water canner for five minutes (starting the time when the pot returns to a boil). When the five minutes are up, remove the jars from the pot and let them rest on a towel-lined counter top until the jars are completely cool.
Here’s my serving suggestion: Spread spoonfuls on freshly baked scones, drink black tea with milk and sugar, and pretend you’re in Gosford Park.
And, because I’m so proud of this lovely, fragrant, gently-bitter marmalade, I have a jar to give away. I’ve set that little four-ounce jar you see up there on the right aside for one of you lovely readers. Leave a comment by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, February 18th, 2010 to enter.
A recipe, in a more conventional format, can be found after the jump.
Ingredients
- 2 pink grapefruit
- 3 lemons
- 4 navel oranges
- 6 cups of sugar
- 4 cups of zest poaching liquid
Instructions
- Wash and dry the fruit. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest from the fruit. Cut the zest strips into a fine confetti. Combine the zest in a pot with 6 cups of cold water. Bring to a boil, reduce temperature to medium high and simmer for half an hour.
- While the zest cooks, cut the white pith away from the fruit and separate the fruit from the membranes (see instructions above for greater detail). Collect the interior fruit in a large measuring cup and set the membranes and any seeds aside.
- When all the fruit has been broken down, bundle the reserved pith and seeds into a length of cheesecloth, tying the cloth well so that no seeds can escape.
- Drain the zest, reserving the cooking liquid.
- In a large stainless steel or enameled cast iron pot, combine zest, citrus fruit, 4 cups of zest cooking liquid, 6 cups of sugar and the cheesecloth bundle.
- Bring to a boil and cook vigorously until the mixture reaches 220 degrees (this takes between 30-40 minutes).
- When the marmalade reaches 220 degrees and sustains it for one minute, remove the pot from the heat. Stir for about a minute off the heat, to help the zest bits become evenly spread throughout the preserve.
- Fill prepared jars (see above for jar preparation instructions), wipe rims, apply lids and screw rings. Lower into a prepared boiling water bath and process for five minutes at a gentle boil (do not start counting time until the pot has achieved a boil).
- When time is up, remove jars from the pot and let them cool completely. When they are cool to the touch, check the seals by pushing down on the top of the lid. Lack of movement means a good seal.
Notes
Recipe adapted from several marmalade recipes in “So Easy to Preserve“
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I tried the Marmalade and I just cannot get it to jell. I added pectin (liquid) from the start and very runny so I reboiled it and added 2 more packs of Pectin, and no luck. Any suggestions, thank so much and I have to say it tastes awesome but I would like it to be firm
Minnetta, I’m so sorry to hear that you struggled to get this to set. I really have no idea why it didn’t set, particularly after you added extra pectin.
Help! I am somewhat new to canning. I have a very long family legacy and am trying to learn some basics before spending a week during harvest season with my grandmother learning so much!
So here’s what I need help with. I just finished canning the marmalade… but it looks more like (delicious) syrup than marmalade. I think that it needed more pectin, but because I’m new to canning, I don’t have extra supplies… so I canned it anyway. Can I open the cans and cook it with pectin again, then re-can with new lids?
Thanks so much from the newbie!
Yes, you can certainly open up those jars, reboil it until it sets and recan it. Sometimes these marmalades need to go higher than 220 degrees F, which is why I also included instructions in the narrative above about checking the set with the saucer test.
Well, I just made this recipe from your book. It took forever to set up and ended up a little bitter. I was going to come on here and see if you could answer my questions, but reading through your post and comments answered everything! It is SUPPOSED to be a little bitter and I didn’t remove the membranes when I cut up the fruit. Aha! Still is delicious and I think I’ll enjoy it more knowing it is supposed to be a touch bitter. After cooking what seemed like forever, I started to remove a jarful at a time and continuing to cook the rest for another few minutes. The first jar is citrus syrup and the last jar is citrus candy, but hopefully one jar in the middle is just right (I’ll know more once they fully set). It was my first marmalade so I treated it as an experiment. Thanks so much, Marisa, I have learned so much from you!
Sarah, I’m so glad to hear that coming over here to the blog helped answer your question! Here’s hoping that middle jar has set up appropriately!
I just made this and it set wonderfully! I don’t have an auto thermometer, but my little espresso one did a great job. I added one orange to the recipe, only used 5 cups of sugar, and right after it reached 220 I squeezed out the pectin ball into the jam and it seemed to help it thicken nicely. I also added 1/2 of a fresh vanilla bean. It is a little more tart than I expected, but quite delicious. Thank you for the wonderful manufactured pectin-free marmalade recipe! I will be using that method for years to come I’m sure! Saving my lemon seeds from now on
Ha! I just made this recipe and wrote the same thing in my review. I had never heard of the pectin in the pith, but once I found out my marmalade sets every time! Great finds for the kitchen are fantastic aren’t they?
So happy to hear that it worked for both of you so well!
This is a beautiful recipe (quite literally.) I followed the recipe exactly. I followed a recipe for Bitter Orange Marmalade back in December, but it didn’t give specific measurements or what temp to cook the marmie to. So the specifics helped out a lot; thank you! I apologize for not reading through the entire tutorial, but had my zest cut and drying out waiting on me to confirm a recipe to use. So, if in your tutorial you mention the pith and seed’s importance in the cooking of marmalade I am sorry. I read that there are loads of natural pectin packed in the pith and seeds and if after you cook the pith/seed bag until it is hot through, take it from the pot and allow it to cool slightly while the marmalade continues to cook. Once the pith/seed bag is cooled enough to touch (will still be hot) begin milking the contents to rob it of the natural pectin. Return collected pectin back to the pot. This should help anyone with a no-set situation. The natural pectin will be thick and milky looking. Thanks again for sharing the great recipe! (This stuff makes amazing Orange Chicken!)
[...] particularly having coming across a recipe from for a ‘Three Citrus Marmalade’ from Food in Jars that didn’t use the white pith – which I’ve always been leery about, and stayed [...]
[...] if that’s your preferred measure). It’s a little bit of work to supreme the fruit (instructions here), but once that part is done, it cooks up in about 20 minutes like so many speedier jams. Spread on [...]
[...] the pith and then either segment or juice the inner flesh (much like what’s documented in this post). When making marmalades in this fashion, I like to cut the zest into very fine ribbons, so that [...]
Lovely recipe! I’m going to try it this weekend with my marmalade-fanatic son.
[...] Made triple citrus marmalade from Food In Jars. Yummm. This one can be completely crossed [...]
[...] So lessons learned: don’t add sugar late in the batch and always eat your mistakes! This next batch with the Cara Cara’s will be epic! Here’s the recipe from which my marmalade adventure began. http://www.foodinjars.com/2010/02/three-citrus-marmalade-recipe/ [...]
[...] marmalade (squat) and one batch of orange/lemon/lime marmalade (slender). We used this recipe from Food In Jars, which is good not only for the recipe but for the splendid wisdom she shares about [...]
[...] hate leaving holes in the site, but I ask if you’re looking for marmalade guidance, you visit this post instead. It can be made with blood oranges in place of the variety of citrus, should you be [...]
is it okay to make this in a copper jam pot?
Any time you make a fruit preserve in a copper jam pan, you need to make sure that the sure is fully dissolved into the fruit before you add it to the pan. Without the presence of the sugar, the acids in the fruit can pull a metallic flavor from the pan.
thanks, I’m working on it right now, so I’m glad you answered. So, If I just let them macerate for a while in a stainless steel bowl, (with the sugar) before I boil, it will be okay?
Yep!
I did not use this recipe as I just found it. I had some navels that I wanted to try in marmalade. After researching & finding way too many variations, I used what I thought was a simple sure-proof recipe. I used 3 navels (whole thing), juice of 1 lemon, fruit from 1 pink grapefruit, 2 C sugar, 3 C water. I brought to boiling then let sit over night. Returned to boil then simmered for 2 hours; returned to gentle boil for 30 minutes, then another 30 minutes. Temp never got above 209/210 (thermometer may be bad) & it did not set up on a cold plate. Being that I cooked it 30 min longer than called for, I decided to jar it & see if refrigeration would help. Did not. I really don’t want to recook & use pectin. Can I just recook it longer? Did I not add enough sugar? Or, maybe the sugar didn’t dissolve properly? It made approx 42 ounces. Can you help me please?
I made the Three-Citrus Marmalade yesterday. I haven’t canned anything is so long. But the recipe went together beautifully and the marmalade is amazing. It’s so much better than the marmalade you buy in the store. Thank you so much for the recipe and the great instructions.