Recipe:Surfas Demo: Time-to-Kill Marmalade
We're in the heart of citrus season now, and the fragrance is unmistakable.
It's marmalade time, and my thanks go out to Surfas—John, Elana, Lavender and Diana—for having Bettina Birch and me back for another demo. The Surfas kitchen has by now become my favorite cooking home-away-from-home, and as always I had a big time. The only disappointment this go-round was that Bettina had to leave early, which meant that the 70 or so guests had no respite from the sound of my voice.
I warned everyone in advance that I can talk the hind legs off a mule, and I lived up to my reputation. But I also deviously kept them all pinned to their seats by waiting until the very last moment to pass around samples of TIME-TO-KILL MARMALADE OF BLOOD ORANGES AND MEYER LEMON and VIN DE PAMPLEMOUSSE.
Bettina's friend Susan, who was on hand and graciously stirred the marmalade pot while I ventilated myself on everything from the history of sugar to the molecular nature of pectin, also generously opened jars of her delicious citrus curds to taste. She has shared her recipes with the Surfas website, and as soon as they're posted, I'll provide you the link. I suggest you take advantage—I certainly will. Thank you, Susan!
I'll have a lot more to say about marmalades in the coming weeks, but for now I'll just post the recipe and pay credit here to Tom Hudgens, one of Greenvalley's oldest friends and an wonderful cook, for teaching me his innovative, time-saving, no-soak technique for marmalade. The title of Tom's soon-to-be-published kitchen bible, Commonsense Cooking (Chronicle), perfectly describes the beauty of this recipe. I myself will accept blame for the silly name.
TIME TO KILL MARMALADE OF BLOOD ORANGES AND MEYER LEMONS
2 lbs blood oranges (about 10 small fruits)
1 lb Meyer lemons (about 3 large fruits)
1/2 lb sour Eureka lemons (about 2 small fruits)
3.5 cups white granulated sugar
3/4 cup sage honey, or any other pale, floral honey
3 cups water1 Remember that marmalade uses the fruit peel, so please use un-sprayed, organic (or backyard) fruit if at all possible. Also note that store-bought citrus is often coated in wax to extend shelf-life, so if that's what you're using, first rinse the fruit with boiling water to remove all traces of wax, then scrub well in cold water.
2 PEELS: Using a vegetable peeler, remove the peel from all the citrus in wide strips, taking only the colored exterior zest and leaving behind the albedo, the bitter white pith.
Slice the peel into 1/4" threads (or wider, confetti-like pieces if you prefer a more textured marmalade.) Put the prepared peels in a preserving pan.
3 PULP: First remove all the albedo. The technique is to take a peeled fruit and slice a round off both ends, deep enough to reveal the pulp beneath the albedo. Then stand the fruit on one of its flat ends and slice downwards along the fruit's outside edge to cut away the albedo. Work your way around the perimeter of the entire fruit until you're left with the beautiful "heart" of the fruit.
Cut the heart crosswise into round, 1/2" slices and finally quarter each slice. Remove whatever seeds you find. Put chunked pulp in the preserving pan with the peel.
4 Add water to the preserving pan with peel and pulp, bring to a boil and add sugar and honey.
Return to a moderate boil and stir constantly until the mixture had reduced by as much as half to reach the jell point.
5 When a jell set has been achieved, turn off heat and allow the hot marmalade to cool for 5 minutes before ladling into prepared jars.
If you wish, process sealed jars in a hot-water bath for 10 minutes (for half-pint size) to pasteurize for long storage.
YIELDabout 3 pints
NOTES
***You can use any combination of citrus fruits in this recipe, but be sure to achieve a balance of sweet (navel oranges, tangerines, Meyer lemons, etc) and sour (Seville oranges, Eureka lemons, grapefruits, etc).
***Feel free to add flavorings. For example: add 1 split vanilla bean (or a couple of cloves or a cardamom pod or a short cinnamon stick or a tablespoon of minced ginger) to the preserving pot midway through the reduction. Or: take a 4" branch of rosemary, crush it to release its fragrance and swish it through the finished marmalade just before ladling into jars. Or: add 2 tablespoons of alcohol (Grand Marnier, citron-flavored vodka) towards the end of reduction.
Reader Comments (11)
this looks lovely! i've always loved marmalade, but i think i have just recently become addicted to it. i will be trying one with rosemary next.
What a great event!I think it's amazing that you can talk the hind legs off a mule. I would certainly pay for that, and a glass of that Vin de Pamplemousse! (And all the rest, for that matter.)
In my typical enthusiastic/compulsive way I have made “time to kill” Marmalade and served it on Greek yogurt as desert. Delicious. I felt when I was making it, the marmalade was overcooked it because it took a long time, 45 minutes not 20. It set beautifully though. Blood oranges and lemons from back yard citrus. So happy I saw your demonstration and I really enjoyed the history lesson. Due to more Meyer lemons and my kitchen going down for renovations tomorrow, I also made Meyer lemon marmalade - 1/2 batch with ginger (same building block recipe). Thank you.
Kevin, I couldn't make it to Surfas and so tried it on my own using the Ball recipe. Boy, I wish I had gone to your class! I had no idea how to get the pulp out and spent an absurd amount of time doing it. Also, the recipe called for way too much sugar. I'm going to try again your way. My neighbor gave me a huge bowl of limes from her tree so I've been madly looking for recipes. I think I'm going to do a lime/orange/ginger marmalade with oranges foraged from the neighborhood. Anyway, thanks for the recipe!
Hi Kevin I was at the demo but I forgot to ask if a stainless steel pot would work with this or would it cause it to burn?
Hi Wenchie -- thanks for your comment -- a stainless steel pot would work fine -- have no fear and forge ahead! best, kevin
Hi Kevin - What a treat it was to explore marmalade with you on Saturday. I really appreciate all your knowledge and stories, it made for a fun afternoon. I went home and promptly made blood orange marmalade and served it with roast pork. Thanks for the inspiration. Here is a link to my photos from the day in case you would like to see them...
http://picasaweb.google.com/mrslindaruiz/MarmaladeDay02#
Hi Linda -- i was tickled to read your comment about going home to make marmalade -- were you happy with how it turned out? and what a good idea to give King Pig a citrus crown -- I'll follow your lead when I cook up the Tennessee ham my dad just sent me. thanks too for the pics of that funny-lookin' man who apparently never shuts up -- all the best, kevin
Hi Andrea -- I'm so glad to read that you stirred up a batch of marmalade -- it doesn't necessarily mean that you overcooked it just because it took a long time to reduce -- it could be that you cooked it over a lower flame than i did -- which is of course fine. the only thing that matters is if you like the way it tasted. i hope so! all the best, kevin
oh, yum! Kevin, I have heaps (and I do mean heaps) of grrrreat kumquats just harvested from a neighbors tree and caught this post just in time. What do you recommend for quantities in a meyer lemon-kumquat marmalade, and for a kumquat-only marmalade?
update - just used the time-to-kill recipe and substituted kumquats for the blood oranges - fantastic!!