January 18th, 2010 Can Jam-January
This month’s ingredient for the Can Jam is…
Citrus!
Despite my fervent prayers to whoever is in charge of Fruit Ripening, my very locally grown oranges are not quite ready for picking (as you can see above). I was really hoping citrus would be the February Flavor of the Month because, by then, my tree might look more like this:
And I can’t get too much more “local” than 12 inches to the right of my computer. On to Plan B – off to the store.
I was thinking about concocting some sort of sweet and sour sauce to use on chicken or duck anyway, so I decided I’d make Citrus Marmalade with Apricots from a recipe out of Madelaine Bullwinkel’s book, Gourmet Preserves Chez Madelaine. It’s a traditional “two-day” marmalade, and I liked the idea of adding the apricots. The ingredients are pretty simple:
- 6 ounces dried apricots
- 1 thin-skinned pink grapefruit (1 pound)
- 1 lemon (1/4 pound)
- 1 medium navel orange (1/2 pound)
- Water
- 5 cups sugar
Day One: Coarsely chop the apricots and reserve.
Scrub the citrus fruit and strip 15 pieces of peel from the grapefruit and lemon with a citrus stripper tool (I used a peeler and guess-timated at what 15 strips would look like). Remove the rest of the peel (you don’t need it for this recipe) and thinly slice the fruit.
Cut the orange, peel and all, into 8 pieces and finely chop in a food processor (I chopped mine by hand – I like marmalade a bit chunkier than most people).
Combine and measure the fruit slices, citrus peel strips, orange pieces and the apricots. Add an equal amount of water (I had a quart of fruit, so I added a quart of water). Place in a heavy non-reactive pan, cover and bring to a boil.
Uncover and simmer for 15 minutes. Smells heavenly so far.
Cool the mixture to room temperature, cover and let stand overnight at room temperature.
Day Two: Measure the marmalade mixture and reduce to five cups. I had six, so I simmered the mixture for about 15 minutes. Measure out (and have handy) the five cups of sugar.
Begin adding sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, bringing the mixture back to a boil after each addition.
Continue cooking until it reaches the jell point (8 degrees above boiling – I’m at 500′ elevation, so my jell point is 212° + 8° = 220°.) This took about 10 minutes. It always seems to get “stuck” at 218°, but it finally got to 220°.
Pour the marmalade into a 2 quart measure and let stand for 5-10 minutes. Stir down the fruit pieces to suspend them in the marmalade. That helps the “floating fruit syndrome”.
Pour into hot jars, leaving 1/4″ of headspace. Apply lids, rings and process in a BWB for 10 minutes. I got six half-pint jars and a wee bit extra in a 4 oz. jar. I had a feeling I should have simmered it for just a few more minutes.
Sometimes marmalade takes a long time to set up, so I’m not too worried (yet). If it doesn’t, I can always make more marmalade bread. I’ll post that recipe later this week for all the jammers that now have a surplus of marmalade.
As a reward for reading through this very long post, I’m giving away one new copy of Gourmet Preserves Chez Madelaine (not the one in the photo, which has a number of fruit stained/splattered pages). Leave a comment on this post telling me how many jars of citrusy goodness have been added to YOUR pantry this month! Deadline is 11:59 pm (Eastern Time) on Friday, January 29.
And da winner is…
Daisy Mae! Congratulations – enjoy the book.
January 18th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
Thank you so much for posting this! I have grapefruits and lemons from friends, plus sone fruit stand navels. I can’t wait to try this recipe out! All I need to do is get the apricots, and I will have a few jars of this in my pantry too!
January 18th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Oh wait, I am confused on the peel strips: you strip off 15 slices, then you said to peel the rest of your fruit, but in your picture, it looks like your fruit still has it’s peel on? This may be a dumb question, but I have never done marmalade before!
January 18th, 2010 at 9:51 pm
In the original recipe, Madelaine says to remove 15 strips with a citrus stripper – so those would be really skinny little strips using a gadget like this – http://www.surlatable.com/gs/citrus-stripper-lemonade-features-2.shtml
I just took a regular old vegetable peeler and peeled half the grapefruit (mine were much wider strips) and most of the lemon. Then I used the rest of the peel that was left on the fruit and used it in another recipe. The first picture is of the ingredients before I started jamming (marmalading?)
I just made my best guess as far as how much peel to use. I like chunky marmalade, so I probably used more than the original recipe called for. Just make it how you would like it! The experimentation is part of the fun!
January 19th, 2010 at 10:12 am
what a lovely idea! apricots in marmalade! thanks for this.
…now about that book. that is one i don’t have on my shelf so count me in. oh, and i gots 6 new jars of lime on lime shred on my shelf this month.
January 19th, 2010 at 10:17 am
The book looks very interesting, I do not have a copy.
Your orange tree is a thing of beauty!
January 19th, 2010 at 10:26 am
I tried making a kumquat marmalade but I got distracted during day 2 and then I forgot. By the time I remember, white fuzz was growing!
I’d love to win that book!
January 20th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
I was able to put up 4 jars (and a portion for the fridge) of lime lemon marmalade. It’s tasty. A bit bitter, likely due to the one day processing but good all the same. I like the look of your chunky marm.
I also made up a half pint each of lemon curd and blood orange curd, for the fridge. Mmmm.
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:34 am
Oh! Oh! I want this book! It will inspire me to put up more than the 5 jars of strawberry lemon marmalade I’ve done so far. In my defense, I also did a batch of soup (pressure canned) and some applesauce, so I haven’t totally fallen off the canning wagon.
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:16 am
I made strawberry lemonade for my canning challenge- 7 quarts. they taste wonderful but dont look that pretty.
Would love the book!
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:24 pm
I’ve thrown your names into the hat (ball cap, actually). Good luck!
BTW, Terri, the orange tree is about 60 years old – a hand-me-down from my great aunt. “She” has a special place in my office!
January 23rd, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Would love the book! It sounds awesome!
I canned my first citrus- Ruby Red Grapefruit Marmalade- and put up 9 half-pints of deliciousness!
January 23rd, 2010 at 3:53 pm
This looks like a great recipe! And I love your jar label, too! Labeling is my least-favorite part of canning, and mine aren’t nearly that pretty. Is that a preserving pot that you’re cooking it down in? I’ve heard of those but never seen one. How do you like it?
January 23rd, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Libby,
Yep, that’s a maslin (preserving) pan – I love it and use it all the time.
Preserving pans are widely available in the UK in all price ranges, but the only place I’ve ever found one for sale here in the US is from Lee Valley Tools.
January 24th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
[...]Citrus Marmalade with Apricots. The combo sounded interesting to me. Plus they earlier canned some wineberry-chocolate sauce and I think that is intensely awesome.[...]
January 25th, 2010 at 3:19 am
I’ve been a marmalade making fool here at Acorn Cottage. Started off with red grapefruit, 7 jars; then did a double batch of sweet orange with my friend Rois, took home 7 jars. Next was Meyer lemon, 3 jars, and I just put up 3 jars of kumquat vanilla. I might be finished, but if the local store gets in some organic Seville oranges I will make some bitter orange too… So that makes 20 jars of citrus marmalade so far
What can I say, the Can Jam just encouraged me to try some new recipes, but I’d love to be in the drawing for the book… there is a whole year of preserving yet to come!
I have the same pan you do (from Lee Valley) and I love it.
January 25th, 2010 at 4:34 am
I’d love to read that book, so count me in. I made five 0,42-pint jars of orange-grapefruit-kumquat marmalade. Oh, I love the label, too. Do you use any pattern for that? Would love to know that.
January 25th, 2010 at 4:39 am
Oh, one more thing: this Maslin pan looks fantastic!
January 27th, 2010 at 11:21 am
Wow. That really looks wonderful. I’m off to can citrus tomorrow. This book would be a great addition.
January 27th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
I ended up with 9 half pints and 2 quarter pints. And I still want to make more! It is going to be very difficult to chose between all of these great recipes that everyone is posting.
One thing I do know though – before big time canning season I am going to have to figure out a cool label.
January 27th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
i have 8 half pints of orange marmelade and two pints of preserved lemons, should be enough to last ’til next january!
January 29th, 2010 at 11:13 am
I followed a link on the can jam to your site – I loved your comment about not bothering to go thru the time and effort if you are not going to eat it. How true is that!
I love your recipe for the marmalade bread. I think I’ll adapt it for using up all those odd jams and jellies that I rec’d as Christmas gifts.
In January, I put up 8 jars of marmalade, 6 jars of jelly and 2 jars of candied kumquats. And the month isn’t over yet – hoping to get 14 quarts of clementines canned this weekend.
January 29th, 2010 at 9:36 pm
Mmmm I love the mix of citrus that you used and that bread looks so yummy!
I don’t know how many jars I put up. I forgot to count them! And now I’ve given most of them away.
If I had to guess I would say 12?
February 8th, 2010 at 7:35 pm
Rec’d the book today. Thank you very much. So many recipes I want to try. . .
February 15th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Thanks for letting me know it arrived safely! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.