Meyer Lemon Ginger Marmalade Food

LEMON GINGER MARMALADE

Steps:

• Prepare canner, jars, and lids.
• Measure sugar and set aside.
• Using a vegetable peeler, remove yellow lemon peel in long strips. Cut strips into thin slices. Reserve fruit.
• In a large deep stainless steel saucepan, combine lemon peel, baking soda, and water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat, cover, and boil gently for 5 minutes until peel is softened. Remove from heat and set aside.
• Using a sharp knife, cut white pith from lemons. Working over a large bowl to catch juice, use sharp knife to separate lemon segments from membrane. Place segments in bowl and squeeze membrane to remove as much juice as possible, collecting in bowl. Discard membrane and seeds.
• Measure 1 cup lemon segments and juice. Add to softened lemon peel with gingerroot. Whisk in pectin until dissolved.
• Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Add sugar all at once and return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil hard, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim off foam.
• Ladle hot marmalade into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust head space if necessary by adding hot marmalade. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.
• Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered by water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool, and store.

MEYER LEMON MARMALADE

Steps:

• Rinse the lemons and pat dry. Halve the lemons crosswise and juice them, reserving the juice. Using a spoon, scrape the pulp and seeds from the halves. Using a sharp knife, slice the peels 1/8 inch thick.
• In a large, heavy saucepan, cover the strips with 8 cups of cold water and bring to a boil; boil for 1 minute. Drain the strips and rinse under cold running water. Blanch two more times; the final time, drain the strips but do not rinse them.
• Return the strips to the saucepan. Add the reserved juice and the sugar. Simmer over moderate heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then skimming any foam, until the marmalade sets, about 30 minutes.
• Spoon the marmalade into 5 hot 1/2-pint canning jars, leaving 1/4 inch of space at the top, and close with the lids and rings. To process, boil the jars for 15 minutes in water to cover. Let stand at room temperature for 2 days before serving.
• MAKE AHEAD The processed marmalade can be stored in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year. Refrigerate after opening.

MEYER LEMON MARMALADE

Steps:

• 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.

EASY LEMON GINGER MARMALADE

Steps:

• Prepare canner, jars, and lids.
• Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest (the yellow part of the peel) from the lemons in strips. Cut strips into thin slices.
• Using a sharp knife, cut the white pith from lemons, exposing the juicy parts of the segments.
• Working over a large bowl to catch juice, cut the lemon segments from membrane.
• Place segments in bowl and squeeze membrane to remove as much juice as possible, collecting in bowl.
• Fish out any seeds that fell into the bowl and discard them along with the membrane.
• Peel and grate the ginger if you haven't done so already.
• In a large deep stainless steel saucepan, combine lemon peel, baking soda, and water.
• Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and boil gently for 5 minutes until peel is softened. Remove from heat and set aside.
• Measure 1 cup lemon segments and juice.
• Add to the pan with the lemon peel along with the ginger. Whisk in pectin until dissolved.
• Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly.
• Add sugar all at once and return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil hard, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.
• Remove from heat and skim off foam.
• Ladle hot marmalade into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace.
• Remove air bubbles and adjust head space if necessary by adding hot marmalade. Wipe rim.
• Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.
• Place jars in canner, ensuring they are covered by at least an inch of water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes.
• Remove lid from the pot. Let the jars sit in the pot for 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool, decorate the jars so they're super-cute and give them away to deserving friends and family members.

MEYER LEMON MARMALADE

Steps:

• Note that the proportion of lemon segments to water to sugar is 1:1:1. So if you don't have a kitchen scale and don't weigh your lemons to begin with, as you proceed through this recipe keep in mind these proportions. Your 2 1/2 lbs of lemons should yield 6 cups of chopped lemon. 6 cups of chopped lemon will be cooked first with 6 cups of water, and then later 6 cups of sugar are added. You can also do this recipe with 4 cups of chopped lemons, 4 cups of water, and 4 cups of sugar. Do not double the recipe. Do not reduce the sugar (if you want a reduced sugar recipe, use a different recipe); the sugar is needed for the jelly to set.
• PREPARING THE FRUIT.
• Scrub the lemons clean. Discard any that are moldy or damaged.
• Prepare the lemons. Cut 1/4 inch off from the ends of the lemons. Working one at a time, stand a lemon on end. Cut the lemon in half lengthwise. Cut each lemon half into several segments, lengthwise. As you cut the lemons into segments, if you can, pull off any exposed membranes. Just get the ones that are easy to get to, ignore the rest. When you've cut down to the final segment, cut away the pithy core. Remove all seeds from the segments. Reserve the seeds and any removed membrane or pith. You will need them to make pectin. Cut each lemon segment crosswise into even pieces to make little triangles of lemon peel and pulp.
• Put all of the seeds, membranes and pith you removed from the lemons into a bag fashioned out of two layers of cheesecloth or a muslin jelly bag.
• FIRST STAGE OF COOKING.
• Place the lemon segments and water into a large, wide pot.
• Place the pectin bag in the pot with the fruit pulp and secure to the pot handle.
• Bring mixture to a medium boil on medium high heat. Let boil, uncovered, for about 25-35 minutes, until the peels are soft and cooked through. Test one of the lemon peel pieces by eating it. It should be soft. If it is still chewy, keep cooking until soft.
• Remove from heat.
• Remove the pectin bag, place the pectin bag in a bowl and let cool until it is comfortable to touch.
• ADD THE PECTIN AND SUGAR.
• Once your pectin bag has cooled to the point you can handle it, if you want, squeeze it like play-doh to extract any extra pectin. This is not necessary but will help ensure a good set. (I like to wear latex-type gloves for this part.) You should be able to get a tablespoon or two more from the bag. It has the consistency of sour cream. Return this pectin to the pan with the lemon mixture.
• Measure out your sugar and add it to the pan with the lemon mixture.
• SECOND STAGE OF COOKING.
• Heat the jelly mixture on medium high and bring it to a rapid boil. Secure a candy thermometer to the side of the pan. The marmalade may take anywhere from 20 to 35 minutes or so to be ready to pour out. After about 15 minutes, start checking it frequently.
• There are two ways to test that the marmalade is ready to pour out into jars - the mixture reaching a temperature of 220-222°F (8-10°F above the boiling point at your altitude) and a bit of it put on a chilled plate "wrinkling up" when you push it with your finger tip. I do both.
• For the wrinkle test, put several small plates into the freezer. As the jelly temperature reaches 218°F, start testing it by placing a small amount of the hot jelly on a chilled plate. If the jelly spreads out and thins immediately, it isn't ready. If it holds its shape a bit, like an egg yolk, that's a good sign. Push up against it with your finger tip. If the jelly sample wrinkles at all, it is time to take the jelly off the heat and pour it out into jars.
• When you use a candy thermometer to test the temperature of your mixture, make sure the probe is NOT touching the bottom of the pan. Make sure that the indentation on the probe (with modern candy thermometers this is about an inch and a half from the bottom of the probe) is actually surrounded by the mixture. This may mean that you have to tilt the pan to one side, to cover the probe sufficiently to get a good reading.
• CANNING.
• While the marmalade is in its second cooking stage, rinse out your canning jars, dry them, and place them, without lids, in a 200°F oven. They should be in the oven at least 10 minutes before using them.
• As the time approaches for the marmalade to be done, boil some water in a tea pot. Put the jar lids in a glass or ceramic bowl and pour the boiling water over them to sterilize.
• Once the jelly has reached 220°F or its "wrinkly" stage, remove the jelly pot from the heat. Carefully ladle the jelly into the jars, one at a time, leaving 1/4 inch head space at the top of the jars for a vacuum seal. Wipe the rim clean with a clean, wet paper towel. Place the lid on the jar, securing with a jar ring. Work quickly.
• Allow the jars to sit overnight. You will hear them make a popping sound as a vacuum seal is created.
• Even if the jelly is not firm as it goes into the jar (it shouldn't be), it should firm up as it cools.