Kitchen Jam

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Some cookbooks have truly impressive titles. John Ash’s Cooking One on One: Private Lessons in Simple Contemporary Food from a Master Teacher has a heckuva title. I was led to the book by a simple recipe for Roasted Lemon Salsa, which I first found here (with attribution to Ash’s work.)

After making and tasting the hot sweet sour salsa with roasted caramelized smoothness evening out all the pieces, I wondered if a little more sugar would turn this into what I’d always wished would be the taste when I opened a jar of marmalade.

I’ve only made a couple of marmalades – they’re a LOT of work, and the payoff was (to me) a slightly-too-bitter spread. Still, after I read about Doris’s lazywoman’s approach to this traditionally time-intensive spread on Doris and Jilly Cook, I was inspired to try making marmalade one more time. Since January’s TigressCanJam canning theme is citrus, this month seemed the perfect time to try to invent this recipe right.

I made three small batches. Since this is a proportional recipe that is based on a fruit-to-sugar ratio, it was easy to make test micro-batches with just one or two lemons. This was my third and best batch; I reduced the sugar a bit each time until it was in line with the 1 cup fruit & juice : 1/2 cup sugar ratio recommended by Andrea Chesman for her Lemon Limealade (from Summer in a Jar: Making Pickles, Jams & More, Williamson Publishing, ISBN 0-913589-14-4.)

In the process, I discovered that marmalade didn’t have to have that bitter back-taste, and I could *like* it! It is still quite a bit of work – but it’s the kind of process where you can use the ‘standing’ or macerating time to your advantage. I roasted the lemons and did the initial boil on one night; let the pulp and lemon rinds macerate during the day while I worked; canned them the second night; and then tested the jar seals when I got home from work on day 2. Marmalades do traditionally take as long as 24-48 hours to get to a true set, even when you use commercial pectins. But because of the high acid content of lemons, even after roasting, it’s easy to boil them to a jellying point without added pectin.

One caution – I am a taste-as-I-go cook. A completed marmalade tastes MUCH different once aged, macerated and jelled, than it does during the process. During one mini-batch, I over-sugared because the cooking marmalade tasted too bitter, even a little soapy. The sugar produced a rock-hard set (one step short of taffy!) Other batches, sweetened less, mellowed beautifully. So be careful with your not-quite-finished tasting adjustments.

Chesman focused Summer in a Jar on small batch, low sugar and low salt canning – especially suited to the enhanced sweet-sour taste of roasted lemons. This recipe is slightly more sweet than sour, still not too sweet – but you decide. I’d love to hear what you think of it!

Roasted Lemon Marmalade

6 lemons (about 1 1/2 pounds), scrubbed thoroughly to remove any wax on the skin – or use organic lemons which aren’t ‘waxed’ for sale
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (or EVOO loaded into an vacuum pump sprayer)
3 cups granulated organic cane sugar (or 1/2 cup sugar per cup of chopped lemons and juice)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, or to taste

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
• Scrub the citrus. If you’re not using unwaxed organic lemons, you’ll want to remove the food-grade wax on the peels added to preserve color and shelf-life. Scrub the citrus skin with a mild detergent solution and a clean sponge-scrubbie right before preparation. Then rinse thoroughly in warm (not hot) water.
• Cut the lemons in half and pick out the seeds. Lightly coat or spray the lemons with the olive oil. Place lemons cut side down in a baking dish and roast, uncovered, for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let lemons cool.
• When the lemons are cool, chop or dice them (peel and pulp) into shreds or very small (approximately 1/4-inch) rough cubes. Measure the chopped lemons and juice together. You should have approximate 3 cups. For each cup of chopped fruit and lemon juice, measure into the pot 1 1/2 cups of water.
• Bring the lemons, juice and water to a boil; reduce the heat; simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to stand overnight (about 12 hours.) After standing time, measure the fruit pulp and liquid together; you should have about six cups. Add in the fresh lemon juice to top up the volume as needed.
• To each cup of fruit and juice, stir in 1/2 cup of organic cane sugar (3 cups of sugar to 6 cups of fruit and juice). Bring the fruit and sugar mixture to a boil and boil vigorously until the marmalade reaches 200 deg. F., the jellying stage.
• While the fruit is boiling, prepare your jars and lids for canning by sterilizing them, and holding them in a hot oven or dishwasher set on hot until ready to use. You sould also start the water boiling in your canner.
• Stir the marmalade while it’s coming to gel to prevent scorching. After 30 minutes of boiling, check the set and the temperature. When the marmalade temperature is 220 deg. F., remove from the heat.
• Ladle into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Cover with bands and lids and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes (half-pint jars) according to the directions described by the USDA for hot water bath canning. Allow to cool for approximately 12 hours, and check seals.

Makes approximately 6 half-pint (1 cup) jars.