Our meyer lemon tree is producing so profusely that I can't keep up with giving the lemons away! So out come the lemon recipes. Marmalade is first, limoncello and lemon syrup will follow later. Marmalade is generally more time consuming than jam, but once you have made one or the other you will be happy to put in the time because they just taste far better than anything store bought.
Ingredients:
- Peel of 2 lemons, cut into very fine strips
- Flesh of 8 lemons, skin and seeds removed
- Peel of 2 oranges, cut into very fine strips
- Flesh of 2 oranges, skin and seeds removed
- 1/2 cup of lemon juice
- 1 cup of water
- 2 1/2 cups of sugar (if you use brown sugar the jam will be much darker, the only time I use white sugar is when making lemon or orange products)
- 3 small jars with lids
Preparation:
- Mix water, juice, flesh and peel in pot, briefly bring to a boil, cover with lid, simmer for about 20 minutes to soften peel, stir frequently.
- Add sugar, bring briefly to boil, stirring to mix in sugar
- Reduce heat just so mixture boils gently, stirring frequently to prevent burning
- Skim off any foam that develops
- Cook until a teaspoon of mixture dropped on a cold plate gels, 15 to 20 minutes
- Sterilize jars and lids by boiling them for 5 minutes in a large pot. They have to be fully immersed in the boiling water!
- Remove the jars and lids from the pot with a tongs, place them upside down on a freshly washed towel to let water drain out. Do NOT touch the inside or rim of the jar and lids when putting them right side up to be filled.
- Ladle hot marmalade into sterilized jars, filling to within 1/4 inch of top.
- Wipe rims with dampened paper towel, make sure to use a fresh, clean bit of towel for each jar to avoid contamination.
- Seal jars with lids.
- I learned how to make jam when I was growing up. I was taught that sterilizing the jars before use will suffice with any sweet product and that with vegetables or herb, garlic or onion containing foods further sterilization in a water bath is needed. Here in the US the custom is to do the water bath sterilizing for jams and marmalade as well. If you want to do that, here is how:
Put jars in a water-bath canner or on a rack set in a deep pot. Add enough hot water to cover jars by 1 inch and bring to a boil. Boil jars, covered, 5 minutes and transfer with tongs to a rack. Cool jars completely.
In either case, if the jar is not properly sealed (the seal needs to be hard to break or pop when you open the jar) do NOT eat it the product; it might be spoiled and contain botulism bacteria.
