Making the best marmalade ever

My friend Joan has given me a jar of her homemade marmalade every year or so for some time. I finally asked her if she would be willing to show me how to make what I consider the best marmalade I've ever tasted. Earlier this week she came to my house with her two beautiful All-clad pots and we made two batches of delicious and beautiful marmalade.

The first batch was with Ruby Grapefruit, Blood Orange, and Meyer Lemon. Here's how you do it:


Ingredients:
1 Ruby Grapefruit
5 medium size blood oranges
4 medium size Meyer lemons
water (see below for quantity)
sugar (see below for quantity)

Wash all the fruit. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the zest from each piece of fruit. Cut the zest into very thin matchstick pieces. Remove the white pith from the fruit. Separate the sections and remove seeds and any thick membranes. Cut the fruit into small pieces. Measure the zest and pulp. Dump all the zest and pulp into a large, heavy saucepan. Add the same number of cups of water, plus one cup. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer for about 45 minutes. Add one cup of granulated sugar for each cup of pulp and zest. Cook over medium heat, stirring regularly, until you notice slight thickening and a "translucent quality". Put a small amount of the mixture on a saucer and place it in the freezer. Remove the saucer from the freezer after exactly 2 minutes. The marmalade is done when the test sample moves very slowly when you tilt the saucer. Remove pan from heat and ladle marmalade into hot jars. Top with boiled lids and twist tight. Turn upside-down on a towel for 10 - 15 minutes. Invert jars and let them cool completely. Jar lids should seal with a "pop". But don't worry if they don't "pop" because you can always keep them in the refrigerator.



I'm not sure I can tell you how to recognize "translucent quality", but the test works just fine. Start testing before you think it's ready and you'll be fine. It's problem if you overcook the marmalade because it will be too hard and you'll have to heat it in the microwave before you can spread it on your toast.

The second batch was Ruby Grapefruit, Seville Oranges, and Meyer Lemon with Ginger. Here's what you need to make it:

Ingredients:
1 Ruby grapefruit
4 Seville orange
4 Meyer lemons
a scant 1/4 cup finely grated fresh ginger
3/4 cup finely chopped candied ginger

The procedure is similar to what I've described above. Except you add the fresh ginger after you add the sugar and you add the candied ginger just before the marmalade is done cooking.
This is Joan using a silicon spatula to get the dregs from the bottom of the pan. She suggests you put the last bit in a jar or dish and keep it in the refrigerator until you've had a chance to eat it. It won't be as good as the rest of the marmalade because it's always a little too thick.

We used a mixture of real canning jars and recycled jars. I like the little artichoke jars that hold 6.5 ounces because they make nice hostess gifts. The larger Bon Maman jars are good to keep for our own use.

I wish you could taste our marmalade. It's the best ever.