One of the nice people on my instagram account, if you have not visited that yet it is at cookiehousekitchen and has lots of lovely photos on it, asked me for my Citrus and Dandelion marmalade recipe, so here it is. I am not making it today, so there are no photos specific to this recipe yet, but I am making a Citrus and Gin Marmalade, for which the photos will serve very well.
First, as always, before you begin, if you have not read the post on Preserves, Getting Ready, please do, this will give you a good idea of how to sterilize your jars and lids and things so you do not have issues of your jam growing its own hair and becoming inedible.
Ingredients
Makes about 14 x 150ml jars
800g oranges, scrubbed
200g lemons, scrubbed
1/2 cup dandelion petals
1400ml water
1650g sugar
Cut the citrus into eighths and either run through the slicing blade on your food processor or slice as finely as you can. Pop them into a large pot with the water and the dandelion petals, bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer gently until the citrus is very tender.
This will vary according to fruit type, freshness and thickness of peel, I usually allow it about three hours.
Top up the water if you need to but don't add too much, you are going to have to cook it all out in the end.
Pour in your sugar, yes, I know this is a lot of sugar, but you are only going to need a little bit of this on your toast and marmalade does seem to need a higher sugar ratio than jam to keep it from spoiling.
Once the sugar has all dissolved, turn up the heat and boil like billy-o until setting point is reached.
To check this drip a bit of marmalade onto a chilled saucer, return to the fridge for about 30 seconds, push your finger into the drip, if it wrinkles up against your finger it is done.
Remove the marmalade from the heat, let it sit for five minutes, give it a good stir and then pour it into your hot pouring jug (you did read Preserves - Getting Ready didn't you?) and from there into your hot jars, pop lids on, tighten, invert, set aside until cool.
If you have been super clean and there were no issues with your fruit this should keep perfectly for a long time. I have had a jar of Orange and Cointreau Marmalade on my longevity testing shelf for over three years, it is still holding its colour well with no sign of spoilage, I have no doubt that if I opened it it would be fine.
Just a couple of words on Marmalade before I let you go. Hot marmalade spits, so safety glasses, long sleeves, covered footwear, if it can find a patch of bare skin it will and can cause severe burns. Some people like a soft set marmalade and so will pour it before it passes the wrinkle test, I do not, for me, since I sell preserves, it is imperative that they keep without spoiling, a soft set jam or marmalade is much more likely to spoil.
When in the cooking of the fruit stage I simmer mine quite gently, I want a little movement, but not a boil at any point until the sugar goes in, this stops the marmalade from tasting medicinal, which some people like, but I do not, if you want it to taste medicinal just cook the citrus at a higher heat.
Comments