First Marmalade Attempt Progress

Love good marmalade but hate the store shit which tastes bad and is expensive. Decided to try canning my own for the first time, figure you guys can follow along in case its a failure and learn from my mistakes.

My favorite is low sugar, thick cut, bitter dark Oxford type so that's what this recipe has been created for. I scoured the internet, youtube, and old books for a few weeks before customizing this one. Maybe it will work maybe it won't.

You can give advice or questions if you like. This recipe takes 24 hours to finish so I will keep this thread updated till then.

#1 Oranges

Bought a bunch of Seville oranges from Florida, because I needed that authentic bitter orange flavor. A lot more blemishes and re-greening than I would have cared for, but considering it was mailed here in one piece at the end of the growing season I can't complain too much. I only needed half of them anyway.

Pictured are the ones I didn't use.

#2 First Phase

Lightly scrubbed and stemmed the best looking that equaled about 3 pounds along with two small lemons. They go in whole into big enough pot of water. I used a gallon of spring water cause my tap water is shit. They all float and there is plenty of space underneath them. Lemons would't fit on top so they are just under the oranges, hoping it will be fine.

It needs to simmer and soften up for a good 3 hours on the lowest possible setting with foil to keep most of the steam from escaping. You aren't supposed to use a fitted lid, but since my pot was pretty packed I added a light aluminum lid just to weigh it down and keep the foil in place.

Heat can't be any lower without being turned off, and its still at the perfect simmer. I know electric burners are garbage but what can I do, this place is a rental.

Nothing more to say until these finish up, will update later on.

#3 Fishing them out

Ok, after 3 hours exactly they seemed to be ready to come out. I put them in a strainer over a bowl to catch any oozing juices. They are incredibly soft and full of juice and need to be left until they are cool enough to handle.

Also I kept the poaching water in the pot which is incredibly important for later.

I want to know the final result not-user

#4 Scooping

After it was cool I sliced them in half and scooped out the seeds and pith into a medium saucepan. They are soft enough to be cut with a dull steak-knife and a regular table spoon works well for scooping and scraping.

I was not to be too rough with the rind, I don't want it too thin or falling to pieces, but all the stringing bits and sludge do need to come out.

All the orange peels are kept, but the lemon peels are thrown out after pulping them. I have seen recipes were they keep them but I want this to be about the oranges. You do need the pulp and seeds for the extra pectin, though.

That extra juice goes back into the poaching pot with the cooking water.

Will be tomorrow before its finished. If my thread dies I'll just post the finale.

The pumpy seedy shit goes back on medium heat with a couple cups of the poaching water added to it.

Simmered it on medium for 10 minutes, and I did get OCD about a bit of scum that I scraped off the top.

#5 Straining

After 10 minutes I scooped the pulp water into a bowel with fine mesh strainer and some cheesecloth or gauze. I was supposed to use a much bigger cloth so thats a first fuck up.

The liquor needs to drip and cool for a bit initially, which is also a fuckup because my bowl was so small it had to be emptied a few times to leaves some space for more drippage. Juice goes back into poach pot anyway.

#6 Cutting peel

While thats draining and cooling, I got a fork and knife and quartered my peels and then just cut at them until they were chunky and uneven to my liking. I you can cut it however you like, as thin as you like but I really wanted to take advantage of making my own with huge chunks of peel to enjoy on toast. I have a lot of smaller size mixed in, but just slashing at it saves time and makes it rustic. The only thing you should do is smoosh or mash it, although it may be the case that mine are a little less firm than they should be.

Afterwards it gets dumped back into the poaching water, I gave it a stir to make sure no peels were stuck together.

Great thread, keep it up.

>scooped the pulp water into a bowel

SHOULDN'T do, shit. Do not mash it.

#7 More Straining

This was a real pain in the ass and the only part I am worried about. After the easy liquid seeped out of the pith, I was left with this mess on the left. Now one thing almost all the recipes have in common is stressing how important it is to extract every last drop of pectin from the pith and seeds before throwing it out.

So after moving it to a bigger double layer of gauze I twisted it up and squeezed the hell out of it only for the pump to block all the tiny wholes and trapping the liquid pectin. My remedy to this was to take off a layer of gauze but then I had the opposite problem of a lot of pulp getting through, and being my first time with preserves I am not sure where thick pectin ends and bad pulp begins. After checking around the internet it seemed pretty clear that it could be thick and sticky but not fibrous. So my compromise was to throw out the really pulpy shit that was finished with and to do another easier straining of the mostly squishy stuff. This was a lot easier and I got most of the liquid separated even with 4 layers. If I do this shit next year I am splurging on a jelly-bag.

#8 The long w8

Now that the worst part is over, its all back in the pot with the water, peel and all. Clean dish towel over it at room temp till tomorrow which is basically just a few more steps till its finished. I couldn't tell you exactly why it needs to be overnight, probably something to do with pectin and developing flavor.

Maybe this thread will survive by the time its done, but probably not.

Thanks fampai.
Got a better word for it?

I hope your efforts pay off :)

thanks guy, me too. otherwise i will have a lot of marinade for a year.

So much work, hope it'll be worth it!
Personally I'd get bored of waiting and use a cheat method or something...

Bump to keep alive.

>Got a better word for it?
Yeah, how about scooping it into a bowl instead of giving yourself an enema? :^)

Monitoring

Good OC. Thanks for making this place more than just trolls and shitposts.

Excited to see final product, God bless, OP.

Day 2 Electric Boogaloo
#9 Diabetus

Well glad that my thread survived. The next step this morning is the final major step and is pretty easy. Now I have to get all this fucking sugar into my mix. I know its an insane amount but if you can believe it, standard marmalade recipes call for 1.5 pounds more sugar than this.

Because I wanted a light molasses hint without risking the set, I went with 4.5 pounds of golden organic granulated. It all goes into a aluminum lined pan and into a 325 oven for 10 minutes to warm up and make dissolving easier.

In the meantime I have my mixture slowly warming back up on medium low heat.

#10 The Final Boil

After the sugar heated up, I careful tipped it all in to the warm mixture and stirred like crazy to make sure every last granular was dissolved. The is probably the most crucial thing, because a single sugar crystal can cause crystallization which will spread like cancer to the entire batch, rendering it completely useless even for marinade.

I erred on the side of caution and spent a long time slowly bringing it up to a low boil and making sure I scraped down every last crystal, even on the rim and sides.

Also as you can clearly see my 6 quart pot can barely handle this low, if this was a regular high-boil recipe I would be fucked because it would expand 1/3-1/2 its size and overflow. Luckily this calls for a slow boil which JUST ended up not spilling, and will further reduce down overtime.

The sugar made all my peels float to the surface, which is nice looking I guess. The mixture felt pretty thick even before boiling so I hope that's a good sign for pectin.

Now I sit back for 2-3 hours while it boils low and slow and reduces to a darker, thicker mass. I still have to update on jars and other things I need to set up, so I will be back before its finished reducing.

Also thanks to everyone who stuck around and offered encouraged.

can't wait to see the results!

#Extra shit

Thought I would post some end-game additives that are optional.

Crystalized ginger on the left, single malt Scotch that's spent a few days infusing with my secret spices on the right. Both go in at the very end when its off the heat and about to be canned.

Also right now I'm sterilizing the mason jars in the hot setting in my dishwasher.

thanks for sticking around. assuming this sets its not really too terrible if you follow the steps properly. I think anyone careful enough with the right tools and patience could do this, and it should easily make enough to last me a year.

Oops, that pic was meant for

#Update
2 hours in and we have a good looking reduction progress. Its getting nice and dark and stickier. Around this time a lot of scum starts to float, which wont hurt you but does improve the flavor and color if you get rid of it.

A old trick is to add a knob of butter to the pot, which combines with the scum and causes it to stick towards the sides of the pan.

Also around this time I put a few small plates in the fridge to chill for the later "set" testing which is important. We should still have an hour or so to go before our first crinkle test to see if its finished.

Oh boy , i feel the diabetus already not-user

#11 Crinkle Test and Canning

Ok, so I was sort of in a rush to do all the time sensitive shit so this last part is thrown together.

Step one was checking the set after 3 hours, what I did was put a dab of liquid on the fridge plates and then put it back in the fridge for a few minutes. What I am looking for is it to be thick and leave a "crinkle" when I run my finger across. You really shouldn't cook past the crinkle test or else it will set up too hard and thick so you have to keep checking it.

First few tries weren't really there, but about 3.5 hours in I got my first baby crinkle, although hard to see. I was in a hurry to get the hot sterilized jars filled so I messed up and bit didn't wait a full 10 minutes before ladling it it. I hope it will be OK.

I managed to get all 12 jars filled almost to the top, with a bit of a gap for a seal. After getting them all filled and lidded you have to tip them upside down to get the hot liquid to seal the top, because fuck that water bath shit.

The little bit of leftover went into a extra jar and into the fridge because I want to cool it down faster to show you guys the result. In general it can take 1-2 weeks for the set to complete in a cool, dark place, but it should be somewhat firm long before that.

Also the longer a marmalade sits, the more complex and funky the flavors get, and the color gets even darker.

Although it looks really dark in the jars, its actually fairly golden by the spoonful. The flavor of a wet spoonful to me was absolutely perfect, but my brother loathes hates it so it really is a matter of personal taste if you like it this dark and bitter.

Will check in sometime today when the fridge version is spreadable on toast.

Yeah, its ironic considering I generally try to eat a very low carb and low sugar diet as a rule. A little bit on toast as an occasional treat should be fine, though. Its about as decadent as I will get when it comes to sweets.

Are you offering samples?

>trusting food from Veeky Forums
wewlad

pic meant for below

#12 Eating
So its set up enough to spread, figure I might as well wrap thing sup.

Here is the end result of all the time and labor. A nice piece of buttered toast and marmalade.

The flavor and texture is good, I am not worried about it setting up in the next week. The sweetness is just right, I really don't think I could go any lower without the bitterness being overwhelming. Most people would probably like the standard 2/1 ratio of sugar to fruit. I really like the additions of ginger and spiced Scotch to offset the strength of the oranges. The big chunks of peel have a good texture and flavor and are nice to bite into.

I wouldn't call it entirely perfect, there some bitter edge aftertaste that hangs around a little too long. I have a feeling maybe a bit of pith got through with the pectin and thats the cause. It could certainly stand to be a little more "smooth" but all in all I am happy with my first attempt. I feel like next time I will use a jelly bag to make sure to strain the pectin properly. Could also be I didn't scrape deep enough into the peel.

I would recommend this method, because its less fiddly than high-boil recipes or recipes that call for juicing, seeding, and cutting the peel up before hand and then being super careful with the temperature.

Thanks for hanging around this long, I guess I'll peek in occasional until it 404s.

Good thread, nice looking spread, God bless.

nice marmalade man, i just wanted to say, one time i tried making peach jam without really knowing how to make jam and i got a hard candy fused in a canning jar so mad props

Thanks, honestly I am pretty surprised it worked out, I have heard horror stories about marmalade in particular. As I said its not perfect, but I am happy with for a first attempt.

I don't understand the insanity of people who LIKE making shit like this all the time, though.

What is your estimate for the cost of this batch, marm-user? You still think it will last a year? Looks fooking great m8.

Dropped the name since I am done, but all in all it was pretty pricey for a few reasons.

For starters buying and shipping Seville oranges online was like $40, but thats because growing season was almost over and it was only a single online store I could find. Also I ended up with twice as many as I needed, probably will make a Sour Orange Pie with the rest.

If you live in an area that grows them you can pick them up for much cheaper I'm sure, but here in the states that pretty much means California or Florida.

Also I didn't have any of the usual canning stuff, so I had to buy a funnel and the mason jars (you can re-use old jars and lids if you keep them) so that cost me another $20.

Rest of the ingredients cost less than $10, so all in all I spent about $80 for this first batch. If I were to do this next year it would only cost me about $10 + the cost of the oranges which would definitely save me money.

I got all my jars filled at about 96oz total (with some extra) and a quality brand of marmalade from the store is about $10 per 12oz so I basically just broke even.

You can make marmalade out of any citrus, and that can be really cheap but you have to adjust your sugar accordingly. Sweet oranges can easily go 1:1 ratio.