Comments on: Citrus season: marmalade!

By: Denny

Denny — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:49:18 +0000

What a wonderful marmalade!

By: linda

linda — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:01:38 +0000

I had just made my first marmalade out of kumquats and oranges when I found this post. I didn’t know that the seeds help make the pectin! Next time! I am going to make an onion marmalade soon as well.
Faye, I buy my canning jars in supermarkets seasonally but you can either go to the Ball website (they are a canning company) or Lehmans, both of which I have purchased from online, good reputable companies.

By: Faye

Faye — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 18:44:25 +0000

Oh wow! Those marmalades look gorgeous! We just joined an organic produce buying club here in South Florida, and blood oranges were part of the delivery last week. I’m hoping they’ll be part of our first box this coming Tuesday.

I recently made a batch of preserved salted lemons, using some of your tips, Rebecca. I would love to start making marmalade too!

Where do you suggest is the best place to buy canning jars and supplies online? We live in the Florida Keys, which is not a shopper’s paradise. I have to resort to buying most things from Amazon, or other sites.

Thanks for creating such a comprehensive, holistic site, Rebecca!

By: Granny Sue

Granny Sue — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:20:28 +0000

lovely! thank you for the recipe. I have made marmalade before, but always with store-bought pectin. I want to try this method. My mother loved marmalade and sometimes made it, but she loved to but little squat jars of it in specialty shops and try the different flavors. Such an Englishwoman she was, and marmalade always reminds me of her, and the row of little jars in her fridge.

By: Caddywompass

Caddywompass — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:34:27 +0000

This is my first time posting, but I have been checking this sight out for a few weeks now and I am THRILLED with all the info. (I found it when I was looking for a pickled lemon recipe…..which I tried and it is currently in a dark place hiding for a month.)

I am just starting to learn to can, preserve, although I have been successfuly brewing kombucha for a few years now. Thank you all for the very helpful ideas, tips, encouragement on this site.

By: Sarah Head

Sarah Head — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:08:36 +0000

I’m afraid I’ve never made whiskey marmalade as I’ve always been given it by friends (usually commercial varieties). There’s a recipe here from the BBC Good Food site http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5206/whiskey-marmalade which says add it when all the cooking has finished and just before you pot it up into jars.

By: treesa

treesa — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:24:49 +0000

Oh my goodness, I had no idea you could get pectin from the seeds! I like to save as much money/go as natural as possible, and buying pectin always bothered me… I always wondered how my many-times-great-grandmothers did it, but nobody ever really wrote it down that I’ve found. Thanks so much for sharing! I love the idea of mixing different flavors, especially blood orange and bergamot

By: LB

LB — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:27:35 +0000

Welcome back.

By: crabappleherbs

crabappleherbs — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:17:12 +0000

Thanks, everyone!

Sarah, the bergamot marmalade is only made of sugar and bergamots (Citrus bergamia, aka “bergamot sour oranges”). This is the bergamot citrus that flavors Earl Grey tea, not the “wild bergamot” in the mint family that I call “bee balm” (Monarda spp.). (The naming confusion happened because someone thought red bee balm — Monarda didyma — smelled like the bergamot citrus.) I do think M. didyma flowers would be amazing in marmalade or jam… maybe in a relatively neutral apple base, to showcase their scent?

Whisky in marmalade sounds amazing. When do you add it? At the end of cooking?

By: Sarah Head

Sarah Head — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:58:25 +0000

Great to see you back, Rebecca! What proportion of bergamot to blood oranges do you use? I’m tempted to try making this when my plants are flowering. Any ideas on number of fresh stalks to number of oranges?

You can always add whisky to the classic marmalade mix if you’re looking for something really indulgent on your toast. My parents, now in their 80s, still make their own marmalade twice a year. They whizz all the citrus up in a food processor and then freeze it. This means they can make new batches when they feel like it and not be overwhelmed in January when the seville oranges are available.