I have only made Gina's recipe. It turned out great, and was not hard at all.

Cranberry Citrus Marmalade
==========================================
Ingredients:
1 grapefruit
1 orange
2 1/2 cups water
3 cups fresh cranberries
1 3/4 oz powdered fruit pectin
6 1/2 cup sugar (I only used 4 1/2 cups)
Method:
Remove peel from 1 grapefruit and 1 orange; scrape excess white membrane from peel. Cut peel into thin strips. In large kettle, combine peel and 2 1/2 cups water; cook, covered, over low heat until tender, 20 minutes.
Section grapefruit and orange; chop fruit. Add with 3 cups fresh cranberries to peel; simmer 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in powdered fruit pectin. Bring to boil; stir in sugar. Bring to full rolling boil; boil hard 1 minute stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and skim foam. (I didn't do that). Let stand 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle into hot sterilized jars. Seal. Boil in boiling water bath 10 minutes.
Yield: 4 pints
Posted by Gina W 11/06

First of all, the reason most people don't care for home made marmalade is that it tends to be more bitter than the store bought they're accustomed to. The bitterness comes from the pith, the whitish part of the peel.

If that was your problem, try making it out of mandarin oranges, as they hardly have any pith. This is the marmalade that I give to people who are not familiar with the old fashioned or English style marmalade. Key limes also have very little pith, but you have to add extra juice as they have so much peel because of their small size.

An easy, basic marmalade recipe:

3 pounds citrus fruit
8 cups water
8 cups sugar

Wash the citrus & remove stem parts. Put the whole fruits in a large pot and cover with the water. Bring to a boil, and simmer until you can pierce the fruit easily with a fork. (About an hour to an hour & a half)

Remove the fruit to cool, and reserve the pot of water.

When fruit is cool, using a very sharp knife, and a cutting board set over a bowl to catch the juice, cut the fruit in half lengthwise, and slice in very thin slices. Remove the seeds and set aside.

Put the seeds into the pot, and boil it for 10 minutes or so, then strain the seeds out.

Add the fruit and juice to the kettle, and bring it to a boil, then stir in the sugar.

Boil the fruit and sugar, stirring more and more frequently as the mixture thickens until the mixture reaches 220 degrees F (at sea level), or 8 degrees above your boiling point if you don't live at sea level.

Skim off any foam, and ladle into sterilized jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space & process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

I've made marmalade 4 or 5 times.....and it was wonderful, mostly.
I used Annie's recipe....which I will post below.
I peel the zest from the fruit with a potato peeler....then peel the rest of the peel from the fruit and chop that in the food processor.
I slice the peel with a chef's knife on a board....very labor intensive! I have made marmelade from Tangelos, blood oranges, limes (not good!)and lemons and tangelos.
Here's the recipe I like....came from Annie!

Orange Marmalade
2 cups thinly sliced orange rind
1 quart chopped orange pulp
1 cup thinly sliced lemons
1 1/2 quarts water
5 cups sugar
1. Add water to fruit and simmer 5 minutes.
2. Cover and let stand 12-18 hours in a cool place.
3. Cook rapidly until peel is tender, about 1 hour.
4. Measure fruit and liquid.
5. Alternate sugar with each cup of fruit mixture.
6. Bring slowly to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves.
7. Cook rapidly, about 25 minutes.
8. When mixture begins to thicken, stir occasionally to prevent sticking.
9. Pour hot into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space.
10. Adjust caps.
11. Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.
12. Yield: about 7 half pints.
Also notice that you have to leave the fruit sit 12-18 hours so be sure to time this so it'll be ready to start cooking when you are. I started mine on Saturday night and made marmalade on Sunday afternoon after I came home from the farm.
Good luck, it's worth it, trust me. This is yummy stuff.
Annie

I made Kumquat Marmalade this year and it is just delicious. I combined 2 recipes to make it and I used liquid pectin. The color is gorgeous and it is just delicious and I'm not a marmalade fan.

I'm pretty sure any citrus would work

Kumquat Marmalade

3 qt Kumquats (about 5 1/2 pounds)
2 Lemons; peeled (I skipped the lemons)
2 c Water
3 1/4 c Sugar
3 oz Liquid pectin

Wash Kumquats and cut in half. The pits should be on the wider half and just pick them out and discard. Place kumquats in a FP and pulse until chopped and you can still recognize pieces of rind.

Combine kumquats, peeled lemons, and 2 cups water in a heavy pot; bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer uncovered, 45 minutes.

Add sugar and bring to a rolling boil. Boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add pectin.

Pour marmalade into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace; wipe jar rims. Cover with metal lids; screw on bands. Process marmalade in boiling-water bath 10 minutes.

Yield: 12 half pints.

Michelle

Kumquats lack the bitterness in the pith beneath the skin that most other citrus friuts have. Theya re frequently candie=d whole and eaten without peeling.
You denfintly need to handle other cutrus dirrerently than you do kumquats.

Michelle, my mouth is watering just looking at that gorgeous picture. I bet it tastes delicious on your homemade toast!

Lindac, you're right. I should have reread my post.

Marigene, I love kumquats and found a grower that will ship from FL. I order 10 lbs last year too. At that time we were in full construction mode here and I was running about 6-7 crews daily. My guys made short work of the 10 lbs of kumquats, especially my painting crew!

So this year I ordered another 10 lbs. I'm really not a marmalade person but gawd is it good! I specifically used a recipe with liquid pectin so I would not have to cook the marmalade too long as it gets darker the more you cook it. So mine is a gorgeous orange color...I just love it!!

The kumquat season is Dec through March and they are still available. I will link the grower below in case anyone is interested. They are gorgeous kumquats.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kumquat Growers, Inc.

I went to the Kumquat Festival several weeks ago and brought back some kumquat marmalade--and some kumquat bread. Delightful!!

I love the English style marmalade, I think I will give Annie's recipe a try.

Thanks.

Both of these recipes are also very good!

MEYER LEMON MARMALADE

6 Meyer lemons (1 1/2 lb)
4 cups water
4 cups sugar
Cheesecloth
Kitchen string
6 (1/2-pint) Mason-type jars, sterilized

Halve lemons crosswise and remove seeds. Tie seeds in a cheesecloth bag. Quarter each lemon half and thinly slice. Combine with bag of seeds and water in a 5-quart nonreactive heavy pot and let mixture stand, covered, at room temperature 24 hours.

Bring lemon mixture to a boil over moderate heat. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until reduced to 4 cups, about 45 minutes. Stir in sugar and boil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally and skimming off any foam, until a teaspoon of mixture dropped on a cold plate gels, about 15 minutes.

Ladle hot marmalade into jars, filling to within 1/4-inch of top. Wipe rims with dampened cloth and seal jars with lids.
Put jars in a water-bath canner or on a rack set in a deep pot. Add enough hot water to cover jars by 1 inch and bring to a boil. Boil jars, covered, 5 minutes and transfer with tongs to a rack. Cool jars completely.
Cooks' note:
Marmalade keeps, stored in a cool, dark place, up to 1 year.

Makes 6 (1/2-pint) jars
Gourmet- December 1999

MEYER LEMON AND VANILLA BEAN MARMALADE

1 1/4 pounds Meyer lemons
5 cups water
5 1/2 cups (about) sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
Pinch of salt

Working on large plate to catch juice, cut lemons in half lengthwise, then very thinly crosswise. Discard seeds. Pack enough lemons and any juice to measure 2 1/2 cups. Transfer to large nonreactive pot. Add 5 cups water; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium; simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat; let stand uncovered overnight.
Measure lemon mixture (there should be about 5 1/2 cups). Return to same pot. Add equal amount of sugar (about 5 1/2 cups). Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Add pinch of salt. Bring to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Attach clip-on candy thermometer. Maintaining active boil and adjusting heat to prevent boiling over, cook until temperature reaches 230°F, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Transfer to jars. Cover and chill. (Can be made 2 weeks ahead. Keep refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before serving.)

Makes about 4 1/2 cups.
Bon Appétit February 2005

AnnieÂs notes - When I let the lemons sit over night and then measured, I had 4 cups, not nearly 5 1/2, so I added 4 cups of sugar (sugar equal to fruit). I scraped out the vanilla beans and then tossed the pod in for good measure. I fished the pod out before jarring up the marmalade.

It's yummy, kind of sweet. The vanilla adds a different dimension of sweetness, not distinctly vanilla but still sweeter than the recipe without the vanilla bean. -- Annie

As long as we have a marmalade thread going here...I have had something odd happen.

I made a batch of grapefruit marmalade recently, and the bit that I had left after canning, I put in the fridge and used...quite tasty. Finally, I opened a jar the other day, and stuck a spoon in, only to find it was hard...almost candied. It's still very tasty, and a pretty color as I used ruby reds, but one just can't spread it. In fact, it's difficult to get it out of the jar with anything but a fork.

As far as I can recall, I didn't do anything differently from the way I usually make marmalades, but have never done grapefruit before. Do they just have more pectin than other citrus? Has anyone else had this happen? And, most importantly, is there anything I can do to the finished product to make it more user-friendly? :D

I've made this refrigerator marmalade a couple of times. Really easy, small batch, beautiful color, not bitter, makes a nice little gift. No boiling water bath, but you have to use it up or give it away within about 3 weeks.

Cranberry Orange Marmalade
from Cooking Light

Make the most of abundant seasonal oranges and cranberries with this bright preserve. Serve with biscuits or toast for breakfast, or pair it with crackers, assorted cheeses, and nuts for a cheese platter. The sweet-sour marmalade pleasantly partners with pungent-flavored cheese, such as gorgonzola.

Ingredients
3 1/2 pounds navel oranges (about 6 medium)
1 1/2 cups water
3 cups sugar, divided
1 (12-ounce) package fresh cranberries

Preparation
Carefully remove rind from 3 oranges using a vegetable peeler, making sure not to get any of the white pithy part of the rind. Slice rind into thin strips. Peel all oranges; cut into sections. Combine rind strips, sections, 1 1/2 cups water, and 1 cup sugar in a medium saucepan; bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add remaining 2 cups sugar and cranberries to pan. Simmer 1 hour and 30 minutes or until thick, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, and cool completely. Cover and chill.

Yield - 4 cups (serving size: 2 tablespoons)

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 80(0.0% from fat); FAT 0.0g (sat 0.0g,mono 0.0g,poly 0.0g); PROTEIN 0.3g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 16mg; SODIUM 0.0mg; FIBER 2.2g; IRON 0.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 21.5g

I made a nice blood orange marmalade in the style of San Francisco legend, June Taylor, a few weeks ago. And I will be making a honeybell marmalade soon using a similar method. If anyone wants the recipe and to see a picture of the blood orange marmalade, click on the link below.

--Gina (but not the Gina referred to above)

I'd guess the problem with the grapefruit marmalade is that the temperature of the mixture went above the jell point. Just an extra minute or two can evaporate out enough additional water to result in a very firm texture.

As long as you enjoy the flavor, the easiest thing to do is add a tablespoon or two of hot or boiling water to the marmalade and stir it in. That will loosen the mixture.

Carol

Dishesdone, I have a question about the Meyer Lemon Marmalade recipe. Why do you let the lemons and water sit at room temperature for 24 hours? It would just seem to give them an opportunity to begin composting, lol. Just wondering. I started a batch this morning.

I have no idea why. I let it sit overnight the first time, then I asked Annie if it had to be 24 hours, and I don't remember the why but I've done it without leaving it that long. I've let it sit for a few hours and it was fine.
Let me know how you like it!

Maybe Carol/Readinglady or Annie would know the answer?

I haven't made that one; I did make a Meyer Lemon-Grapefruit marmalade from June Taylor. Good thing it was wonderful because it was the most troublesome time-consuming marmalade I've ever fiddled with. (Though Annie would probably argue the lime marmalade she made was much worse!)

Although the recipe doesn't indicate, I'd guess the long resting period (24 hours) is to leach the pectin from the lemon into the water. (You can actually make your own pectin from lemons or other citrus: I did that for a pineapple - lemon marmalade.)

I wanted to mention if you make a traditional marmalade sans commercial pectin don't be discouraged if the mixture is thin. Marmalades can be notoriously unpredictable and can take as long as six weeks to set up. You may think you've messed up, but give it some time on the shelf and it may be beautiful.

If you're not sure you've reached the jell point, cool the batch and put it in the fridge. See how it looks the next morning. That will give you an idea of the consistency of the final product.

Carol

Carol, it's good to see you here again, how's your DH?

I agree, the long cooking time is most likely to leach the pectin from the fruit, if I don't use commercial pectin I need all the natural pectin possible. LOL I usually like to reduce sugar in my jam recipes but I don't do it in marmalade because it needs the sweetness to offset the bitterness of the peel. At least I think it does.

Thank you, LindaC, for posting that recipe. It's a favorite of mine and I have oranges from Lars. I just might make myself some marmalade...

Annie

Hi Annie, I read about your and Elery's wonderful vacation in the land of no-snow.

Thanks so much for asking about DH. Up at the VA today for his new wheelchair. Danny is improving and is taking his first steps but it's going to be a long journey to full mobility.

It's been crazy and I am worn out. I will email soon.

Definitely I envy you the California oranges and the chance to make real marmalade.

Carol

My marmalade recipe has you slice the fruit and let it sit in the water overnight. I never use artificial pectin and it always sets, if the fruit isn't over ripe.

The first time I made marmelade, (beginners luck) it was great and I didn't do anything special. Then the next two times it wasn't that great--that bitterish aftertaste thing. The last batches I made were very good and I think I have it down now!

The most important thing is to use the right kind of citrus. You want a thin skinned variety with lots of TART juice. Sooooo, navel eating oranges are not good. That's why my batches were not that good, and the good batches were made with tart juicy varieties. This is a difficult thing for me to find having lived in the Midwest and east coast. We cannot get the meyer lemons, which make fantastic marmelade. I think the best taste for marmelade is a mix of oranges and lemon juice. I'm not crazy about grapefruit in marmelade, but again, probably due to the poor quality fruit I can get here up north. Bottom line, ya want thin skinned tart juicy fruit. I've had luck with clementines and blood oranges and a couple of other varieities I can't remember. Navels are a no go, and I think valencias aren't that great either. Those are the main kinds I can usually get. If you're using a thick skinned orange, peel just the peel away, leave the pith.

Soaking overnight leaches pectin. The citrus fruit won't decay because it is loaded with acid and sugar, both inhibit decay.

A good traditional marmelade is very citrusy, yum!

I make marmalade for Clive each year but the only one I have ever made is made with Seville oranges. This is authentic Scottish marmalade and is very tart. Actually I think marmalade is bitter rather than tart , but Clive loves it!

The problem is Seville oranges are only available in February...that's it. Too bad for Clive I seemed to have missed the boat this year. They were available earlier this month but I can't find them now.

By the way they are way ugly....!!!

Here is my recipe, bit of a PITA but a labour of love because it's the real deal.

Traditional Orange Marmalade

1 1/2 pounds Seville oranges (no others can be used)
5 cups water
3 TBSP lemon juice
2 pounds sugar

Place oranges in a pot cover with water cover the pot tightly and simmer until the oranges are soft. About 2 hours.

Remove oranges, cool slightly. Scrape our seeds and flesh. Place the seeds in a cheese cloth bag. Add the bag of seeds and the flesh to the cooking water.

Sliver peel to desired thickness or dice it in a food processor. Add peel,lemon juice and sugar to the pot. Bring to a boil and boil about 15 minutes. Test every 5 minutes until set correctly.

Skim off any froth, remove seed bag. Let sit 20 mins and seal in sterilized jars. Water bath for 10 minutes.

This is from a previous post on Harvest for anyone who wants to try the marmalade I mentioned above. The recipe is from June Taylor. The marmalade turned out excellent, perfect set, tender and not tough. I got 8 jars total but those Weck jars are about 7.4 oz., not 8.

I think for prep this is the most troublesome marmalade Ive ever made but the quality and texture of the final product justifies the work. (I definitely wouldnt feel the same if itd turned out less well, LOL.) I dont know how June Taylor makes this commercially viable. If I did it Id charge about $30 per jar!

Grapefruit-and-Meyer-Lemon Marmalade
5 pounds grapefruit, rinsed
5 Meyer lemons or small regular lemons, rinsed
1/2 cup lemon juice (from 2 to 3 additional lemons)
2 1/2 pounds sugar.

1. Remove the grapefruit skin with a vegetable peeler. Cut the peel into 1/8-inch slivers; stop when you have 3/4 cup. Discard the rest. Slice off the ends of the grapefruit and the remaining grapefruit peel and pith. Remove grapefruit segments, reserving membrane. Stop when you have 5 cups of segments.

2. Cut the ends off the Meyer lemons, deep enough so you can see the flesh. Leaving the peel on, remove the segments of lemon and reserve the membrane. Cut the segments crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces. Put membranes from the grapefruit and Meyer lemons in a jelly bag and tie closed.

3. In a wide and deep pot, combine the grapefruit segments, grapefruit peel, lemon pieces and jelly bag. Add lemon juice and 2 1/2 cups water. Simmer until the grapefruit peel is tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool.

4. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees. Working over a bowl in your sink, squeeze the liquid from the jelly bag; keep squeezing and wringing it out until you extract 1/3 to 1/2 cup of pectin. Add pectin and sugar to the pot. Place over high heat and boil, stirring now and then, until marmalade is between 222 and 225 degrees and passes the plate test. (Spoon a little onto a plate and put in the fridge for 3 minutes. If it thickens like jam, it is done.)

5. Meanwhile, put 6 sterilized 8-ounce canning jars and lids on a baking sheet and place in the oven. When jam is done, remove jars from the oven. Ladle jam into the jars, filling them as high as possible. Wipe the rims. Fasten the lid tightly. Let cool. If you don't get a vacuum seal, refrigerate the jam. Makes 6 8-ounce jars of marmalade. Adapted from June Taylor.

I did change the process a bit for more control. I cooked step 3, wrung out the pectin and removed the bag, then added the sugar and let the mixture sit in the fridge overnight. Im slow and by the time Id prepped everything and cooked the fruit and peels with water I was done for the day.

Next day I cooked on medium-low to dissolve sugar then on medium high until the fruit was translucent. This recipe needed minimal skimming. Then I let it sit overnight. Next day drain fruit and cook syrup to jell point, add fruit back in and cook a bit longer to return to jell point. Then I let it sit 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to distribute fruit and prevent float. Then process BWB 10 minutes.

Also, to cut the Meyer lemon wedges with the peel I cut the ends off the lemons then again in half at the equator. Then I cut the wedges down between the membranes. I didnt see how I could visually control the cutting with a whole lemon as the instructions directed.

Grapefruit Marmalade

I ended up with a lot of extra peel, so I candied some and marinated the remainder in a mixture of half rum half homemade Meyer lemon liqueur (pseudo limoncello) to use in baking. That was a suggestion from zemmaj on Harvest. Jar on the right is brined Meyer lemons with pink peppercorns (from Aglaia Kremezi).

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Carol

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