Freezing And Preserving Recipes
Orange-Grapefruit-Ginger Marmalade
Citrus season is in full swing in Southern California, and while everything in my garden is rather monotonous right now — green lettuces, green collards, green kale, green chard, turnip greens and carrot greens — I can always count on my citrus trees to add some cheerful pops of color. This is also the perfect…
Ingreadient
- 2 tablespoons grated ginger
- 6 medium oranges
- 4 medium grapefruits
- 3 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 packet low-sugar pectin (optional)
Direction
- To prepare the fruit, thoroughly wash your oranges and grapefruits.
- Peel the skin off all the fruits with a serrated peeler.
- Stack several peels and thinly slice them cross-wise into 1/8-inch strips. You want about 2 cups of sliced peels — but a little more won’t hurt!
- In a medium pot, combine the sliced peels with 6 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the peels have softened.
- Supreme the oranges and grapefruits. To do so, cut off the top and bottom of your fruit so that the flesh is showing.
- Slice off the pith (the white rind under the peel) from top to bottom, following the shape of the fruit.
- With a small knife, slice along the membrane to separate the fruit segment. Repeat on the other side to free the fruit segment completely.
- Scoop the fruit segments and their juices into a bowl. Set aside all the seeds, membranes and pith but do not discard.\
- Once you’re done supreming all the fruit, you should end up with about 4 cups of fruit with their juices (adjust the fruit amounts in this recipe accordingly if you don’t have enough).
- Strain the sliced peels and set aside, but reserve the water (which has now been delightfully infused with citrus) and return it to the pot.
- In the same pot as the citrus water, add all the fruit segments and juices, grated ginger, sugar, and cheesecloth bundle. Stir to blend the flavors together.
- Bring the mixture to a full rolling boil while using a spoon to mash the fruit a bit. Stir the mixture every few minutes as the natural pectin is released from the cheesecloth bundle.
- Boil until the mixture reaches 220°F on a candy thermometer. Stir in the sliced peels, then remove from heat.
- Use tongs to squeeze more pectin out of the cheesecloth bundle. It looks like a thick, clear syrup and you want every last drop.
- Discard the bundle and stir the marmalade well to distribute the natural pectin.
- Ladle all that goodness into hot, clean jars and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes, adjusting time for altitude as necessary.
