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My first attempt at making marmalade
Mar. 13th, 2013 12:31 pmDisgusted with the fact that the only places I can find marmalade made without corn syrup as the first ingredient is either at Harvest Coop or through Amazon, and inspired by LJ user tinybuffalo's holiday present of homemade marmalade, I decided to try making marmalade in my new slow cooker. It is actually kind of a trainer slow cooker, as it is sized for cooking for one or two people and it only has three heat settings: keep warm, low, and high, with no frilly extra features (which I consider a plus).
I used some of the surplus fruit I receive from Boston Organics (which I totally love), mostly blood oranges and a Myers lemon for variety. According to the recipe I found on Instructables, I didn't need to add pectin or water, although I put a little bit of orange juice in the bottom before putting the fruit in, because I was concerned about the possibility of scorching. The ratio of fruit to sugar was approximately 2 cups fruit, keeping the peel and sliced very thin, to 1 3/4 cups sugar.
I followed the directions and cooked it on low for about five hours yesterday, but it was still very soupy, so I stowed it in the fridge overnight and then cooked it with the lid off for about two more hours today. There was still a bit of liquid, which I poured off, but it ended up being the consistency of conserves
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_preserves
that is, like stewed fruit. However, it tastes *great!* with the perfect blend of the slightly bitter orange and yet sweet, but not tooth-achingly sweet.
So I decided to keep it, and I stored it in a canning jar I had (what do they call those canning jars with the hinged metal lids?). Anyway, I consider this a happy accident sort of success.
My theory is that my little slow cooker just couldn't create enough heat to really reduce the fruit, as the contents never got to the point where they bubbled or even burbled. I expect if I added pectin next time it would make marmalade just fine.
Special thanks to S. who kept telling me that I should get a slow cooker, but I thought they would be too large and too complicated to use without eyeballs.
I used some of the surplus fruit I receive from Boston Organics (which I totally love), mostly blood oranges and a Myers lemon for variety. According to the recipe I found on Instructables, I didn't need to add pectin or water, although I put a little bit of orange juice in the bottom before putting the fruit in, because I was concerned about the possibility of scorching. The ratio of fruit to sugar was approximately 2 cups fruit, keeping the peel and sliced very thin, to 1 3/4 cups sugar.
I followed the directions and cooked it on low for about five hours yesterday, but it was still very soupy, so I stowed it in the fridge overnight and then cooked it with the lid off for about two more hours today. There was still a bit of liquid, which I poured off, but it ended up being the consistency of conserves
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_preserves
that is, like stewed fruit. However, it tastes *great!* with the perfect blend of the slightly bitter orange and yet sweet, but not tooth-achingly sweet.
So I decided to keep it, and I stored it in a canning jar I had (what do they call those canning jars with the hinged metal lids?). Anyway, I consider this a happy accident sort of success.
My theory is that my little slow cooker just couldn't create enough heat to really reduce the fruit, as the contents never got to the point where they bubbled or even burbled. I expect if I added pectin next time it would make marmalade just fine.
Special thanks to S. who kept telling me that I should get a slow cooker, but I thought they would be too large and too complicated to use without eyeballs.
