Lemon Or Lime Marmalade Recipes

LEMON AND LIME MARMALADE

Steps:

• Begin by measuring 3 pints (1.75 litres) of water into a preserving pan, then cut the lemons and limes in half and squeeze the juice out of them. Add the juice to the water, and place the pips and any bits of pith that cling to the squeezer on the square of muslin (laid over a dish or cereal bowl first). Now cut the lemon and lime peel into quarters with a sharp knife, and then cut each quarter into thinnish shreds. As you cut, add the shreds to the water and any pips or spare pith you come across should go on to the muslin. The pith contains a lot of pectin so don't discard any, and don't worry about any pith and skin that clings to the shreds - it all gets dissolved in the boiling. Now tie up the pips, etc loosely in the muslin to form a little bag, and tie this on to the handle of the pan so that the bag is suspended in the water. Then bring the liquid up to simmering point and simmer gently, uncovered, for 2 hours or thereabouts until the peel is completely soft - test a piece carefully by pressing it between your finger and thumb. Towards the end of the simmering time pre-heat the oven to gas mark 3, 325°F (170°C). Pour the sugar into a roasting tin, lined with foil, and place it in the oven to warm gently for 10 minutes. At this point pop the saucers into the freezing compartment of the fridge. Next remove the bag of pips and leave it to cool on a saucer. Then pour the sugar into the pan and stir it now and then over a low heat until all the crystals have dissolved (check this carefully, it's important). Now increase the heat to very high, and squeeze the bag of pips over the pan to extract all of the sticky, jelly-like substance that contains the pectin. As you squeeze you'll see it ooze out. You can do this by placing the bag between two saucers or using your hands. Then stir or whisk it into the rest. As soon as the mixture reaches a really fast boil, start timing. Then after 15 minutes take the pan off the heat and spoon a little of the marmalade on to one of the cold saucers from the fridge and let it cool back in the fridge. You can tell - when it has cooled - if you have a 'set' by pushing the mixture with your little finger: if it has a really crinkly skin, it is set. If not, continue to boil the marmalade and give it the same test at about 10-minute intervals until it does set. After that remove the pan from the heat (if there's a lot of scum, most of it can be dispersed by stirring in half a teaspoon of butter, and the rest can be spooned off). Leave the marmalade to settle for 20 minutes before potting into jars that have been washed thoroughly in warm soapy water, rinsed, dried, then warmed in a medium oven for 5 minutes. Label when completely cold.

LEMON-LIME MARMALADE

Steps:

• Thoroughly wash all your citrus fruit and remove the zest with a vegetable peeler. Scrape as much of the pith as possible from each strip of peel with a very sharp knife and slice the zest into very small, thin pieces.
• Place the prepared zest, water and baking soda in a nonreactive pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• In the meantime segment your zested citrus fruit by slicing off the ends of each fruit, standing it up on a cutting board and slicing off the pith. Then cut each fruit in half and cut between the membranes to free the segments. Place the segments in a 4-cup measuring cup and keep going until you have accumulated 3 1/2 cups of segments and juice.
• Add the segments with juice and 1 cup of the sugar into the peel mixture. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes longer.
• Stir in the remaining 5 cups of sugar and butter and bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly.
• Quickly stir in the pectin and return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly for 1 minute.
• Remove from the heat and stir constantly for 6-8 minutes to evenly distribute the zest throughout the marmalade (if you skip this step you will end up with all of your zest floating to the top of your jars!).
• Ladle quickly into sterilized jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude.
• The jars need to sit for 2 weeks before you taste to let the marmalade mellow and lose some of its bitterness. I usually get somewhere between 3 and 4 pints from this recipe!

LEMON MARMALADE

Steps:

• Chill a saucer in the freezer, ready for checking the setting point of your jam. Wash the lemons and remove the top 'button' which would have been attached to the stalk. Put the lemons in a large saucepan with 2.5 litres water. Bring to the boil, then cover the pan and simmer for 2½ hrs or until the lemon skins are lovely and tender, and can be pierced easily with a fork.
• When the lemons are cool enough to handle, remove from the saucepan. Measure the cooking liquid - you'll need 1.5 litres in total. If you don't quite have this, make up the difference with water. If you have too much liquid, bring to the boil and reduce to the required amount.
• Halve the lemons and remove the pips - reserving the pips and any lemon juice that oozes out during the process. Cut the lemon peel and flesh into strips, as thick or thin as you like. Put all of this, including any juices, back into the pan. Put the pips in a small piece of muslin and tie up with string. Add this to the pan, as the pips will aid the setting process of the jam.
• Add the sugar and bring to the boil, stirring until it has completely dissolved. Boil rapidly for about 20 mins until setting point is reached. Test the setting point by dropping a little marmalade onto the chilled saucer, allowing it to cool for 1 min, then pushing gently with your finger. If the marmalade crinkles, the setting point is reached; if not, continue to boil and check again in a few mins.
• Leave to cool for 10-15 mins (this will prevent the lemon shreds sinking to the bottoms of the jars), remove the muslin bag, then gently stir in one direction to disperse any scum (small air bubbles on the surface). Pour jam into warm sterilised jars and seal straight away.