Citrus Marmalade

The last two weeks have not been kitchen friendly.  I'm an Adoption Case Manager which means I work with children in foster care whose parental rights have been terminated.  I am their legal guardian and I work with their foster parents to ensure they have everything they need, all while trying to find them "forever families."  Needless to say, this not an easy job!  Cooking is my way to decompress after a long day at work - wherever that may be and however many hours I spent doing it that day.  My job is not a 9 - 5 cubicle job too often.

The last two weeks have been difficult for me at work and as such, when I got home, I did not feel like cooking.  AT ALL.  I spent all of the last week eating leftovers from the freezer - latkes, spanikopita casserole, southwestern stew and channa masala.  Except for Sunday, when the beautiful sunniness of Florida citruses smiled at me from the produce section at Whole Foods.  All winter, I've wanted to try making marmalade from the many great citrus fruits native to Florida.  Needing a pick me up on Sunday, I decided to go for it.

Oh boy, oh boy was it worth it.  But this is not an easy recipe!  I adapted it from my canning guide - Ball's Blue Book Guide to Preserving.

This is a recipe for when you need to spend a few hour, on two separate days, in the kitchen and not thinking about what else you could be doing. This is your warning.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups minced organic grapefruit peel, about 2 pink grapefruits in this case
1 1/2 cups chopped organic grapefruit pulp, from those same 2 pink grapefruits
1/2 cup minced organic orange peel, about 2 small thin skinned oranges
3/4 cup organic orange pulp, about 2 small thin skinned oranges
1/2 cup thinly sliced and seeded organic lemon, about one normal sized lemon
3 quarts water, divided
Vegan Cane Sugar*
1 pouch liquid pectin
Ingredient Note: Even if you don't eat organic citrus, this is one time to do so.  Organically grown produce is supposed to be pesticide free.  Normally, organic citrus can be a waste of money since the pesticides accumulate in the peel which we throw away instead of consuming.  In marmalade, we do eat the peels so I took the time to find some organic citrus.  It was a bonus, since this week it was on sale at Whole Foods and grown locally.  Also, bleached white sugar is bleached using bone char, which I personally find gross, so I use vegan cane sugar. 

Recipe:
Cut the peel from the citrus fruits, working to leave as much of the citrus segments behind as possible.  With a sharp knife, separate the pith (white portion) from the brightly colored peel making sure to leave no pith behind.  Leaving the pith will make the marmalade bitter and will not help with the texture you are seeking here.  Cut the peels into very then slices, and then finely mince.  Put off to the side in a bowl.  Then, segment each fruit and thinly slice the lemon, placing them in another bowl off to the side.  Make sure that you cut the lemon as thinly as you can.  If you have a mandolin, here is your chance to put it to use. 

Combine the fruit peels and 1 1/2 quarts water, boil for five minutes.  Then add the fruit pulp, sliced lemon and the remaining water, and bring back to a rolling boil for another five minutes.  Cover and let stand for 12 - 18 hours in a cool place.  I put mine in a pitcher in the fridge.

The following day, place the fruit mixture back on the stove and cook in a large pot at a rapid boil until the peels are tender.  Use a pot that can hold at least double the amount of liquid you have, because as it reaches the right temperature, the liquid may expand a great deal before settling back down.  You should have about 3 quarts of fruit mixture.  Add 1 cup of sugar for each cup fruit mixture.  In my case, it was 12 cups of sugar because 12 cups = 3 quarts.  Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves and cook until it reaches the gelling point.  To determine your gelling point, add 8 degrees to the temperature water boils at your altitude.  For me, the golden number is 220 degrees.

When your marmalade mixture hits your gelling point, add your liquid pectin and once dissolved, remove the mixture from the heat.  Skim foam if necessary. 

Ladle your hot marmalade mixture into pre-heated and sanitized jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace in each jar.

 
Place your two-piece caps (band and topper) on the jars as tightly as you can and process your jars for 10 minutes in a pot with boiling water covering the jars by at least an inch.  Cool your jars on a baking rack.

Don't be scared if your marmalade doesn't gel right away, it took mine 2 days to finally reach the consistency of what I would consider a loose set marmalade.

If you want to make citrus marmalade without pectin, drain the water from your peels in the first step and adjust your sugar accordingly.  There should be enough naturally occurring pectin in the citrus to eliminate the need for pectin following the altered recipe.