One of the best part of winter is the extreme abundance of citrus everywhere. The bright squeeze of vitamin C shines a bit of sunlight and warmth into an otherwise overcast Utah day and I always have bowls of clementines and lemons adorning my kitchen table and countertop. But if you're anything like I am, you can't eat them fast enough and you have some that need a little nudging to go towards the light. Well, fear not. I have a great idea: MARMALADE!!!
Yeah, making your own jams and jellies and preserves can be a bit intimidating, I get it, but I believe in you and I really think I've made this recipe as simple as possible. You don't even need to buy pectin!!! Here's all you'll need:
4 cups of sliced Meyer lemons
6 cups water
7 1/2 cups granulated sugar
First, start by preparing your lemons. Slice each in half, from end to end. Use a sharp knife to cut out the core, and run your fingers along the missing core area to remove all of the seeds. Save the cores, seeds, and membranes, and keep them in a double-thick piece of cheese cloth. You will be cooking that satchel of core and seeds with your marmalade to generate a naturally derived pectin that'll be used to thicken and firm up your marmalade.
Take each lemon half and slice it into half rounds. The thickness of your slices are really a matter of taste and depend on how big you want your peels to be in the marmalade. Bigger peels? Bigger slices! Thinner peels? Thinner slices! I like mine a littler irregular so that I get varying tastes and textures.
Take all of your lemon slices, your satchel of pits and cores, and put them in a glass or ceramic bowl. A large one, big enough to accomodate all of the lemons, satchel, and 6 cups of water. Pour over the water, cover with parchment paper, and leave in the refrigerator overnight.
The next day, take out your yummy concoction and satchel and pour it into your large jamming pot. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook on high heat until your sliced peels get soft, about 20 minutes. Remove the satchel and set it aside to cool. You really want it to cool to the point where you can comfortably handle it.
Once cooled, squeeze out as much of the pectin as you can from the satchel into the jamming pot. Squeeze and squeeze and squeeze until you can't get anything out. Then discard the satchel to your garbage. Give the mixture a good stir, add the sugar, stir well to combine, and return the mixture to a boil. Cook at a high heat until you bring the marmalade to a temperature of 221 degrees to ensure a good set. Not 220 degrees. Not 222 degrees. 221. This took me about 15 minutes.
While your marmalade is going through it's final boil, prepare your half-pint jars. This recipe got me about 8 half-pint jars.
4 cups of sliced Meyer lemons
6 cups water
7 1/2 cups granulated sugar
First, start by preparing your lemons. Slice each in half, from end to end. Use a sharp knife to cut out the core, and run your fingers along the missing core area to remove all of the seeds. Save the cores, seeds, and membranes, and keep them in a double-thick piece of cheese cloth. You will be cooking that satchel of core and seeds with your marmalade to generate a naturally derived pectin that'll be used to thicken and firm up your marmalade.
Take each lemon half and slice it into half rounds. The thickness of your slices are really a matter of taste and depend on how big you want your peels to be in the marmalade. Bigger peels? Bigger slices! Thinner peels? Thinner slices! I like mine a littler irregular so that I get varying tastes and textures.
Take all of your lemon slices, your satchel of pits and cores, and put them in a glass or ceramic bowl. A large one, big enough to accomodate all of the lemons, satchel, and 6 cups of water. Pour over the water, cover with parchment paper, and leave in the refrigerator overnight.
The next day, take out your yummy concoction and satchel and pour it into your large jamming pot. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook on high heat until your sliced peels get soft, about 20 minutes. Remove the satchel and set it aside to cool. You really want it to cool to the point where you can comfortably handle it.
Once cooled, squeeze out as much of the pectin as you can from the satchel into the jamming pot. Squeeze and squeeze and squeeze until you can't get anything out. Then discard the satchel to your garbage. Give the mixture a good stir, add the sugar, stir well to combine, and return the mixture to a boil. Cook at a high heat until you bring the marmalade to a temperature of 221 degrees to ensure a good set. Not 220 degrees. Not 222 degrees. 221. This took me about 15 minutes.
While your marmalade is going through it's final boil, prepare your half-pint jars. This recipe got me about 8 half-pint jars.
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