The lemon glut

It is lemon season in Perth with work colleagues bringing bags and bags of lemons to work in the hopes that some generous person will take them off their hands.  But you think..."What could I possibly do with all those lemons?"  Here are an idea I've tried and it has turned out beautifully:

Lemon and Lime Marmalade
I like my marmalade zesty!  This one fits the bill nicely...

Approximately 250g each of lemons and limes (about 2 large lemons and 3 large limes)
1 orange
500g granulated sugar
A square of muslin or an fresh, unused kitchen cloth (I used a disposable & biodegradable kitchen wipe)
A few recycled jam jars
Waxed paper and plastic wrap
An elastic

Remove zest (no white stuff!!) from all fruit and shred it finely with a knife.  Remove all white pith from fruit, and reserve.  Chop the fruit up roughly, remove any thick membranes and place any seeds with the reserved white pith.  Put the white pith and seeds into the middle of your cloth and tie it up to make a small bag.

Place zest into a heavy-bottomed sauce pan (if you have one...I didn't use one and it turned out fine...just stir it) along with 1 L of water and the bag o' pith.  Add the chopped fruit and simmer on low heat for approximately 1 hour to soften the peel.

Yes, yes, you do see a fair amount of pith...which does make me a bit of a hypocrite, but no one's perfect and it was still uber tasty!

Clean and sterilize your jars.  The easiest way I know how to do this is clean with hot soapy water, invert on a cookie sheet to dry and then place in the oven at 140 degrees C or 275 degrees F for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool on your counter top.  Best to do this now, and not way ahead of time to maintain sterility of your jars.

When simmering is done, remove the bag (squeezing to get out all the pithy goodness) and put it into your food scraps bucket (will do nicely in the compost due to the biodegradability of the cloth).  Add the sugar and stir until it is dissolved.  Bring back to a boil and boil rapidly for about 20 minutes or until set.  But how do you know when it is set?  Two ways, really.

1.  The back of the spoon test
Place some marmalade in a small bowl.  Dig in with your wooden spoon and scoop some up.  Hold the  spoon above the bowl to cool and then tip it to allow the marmalade to fall off.  Does it stream off the spoon like sugary water?  Not done.  Heat some more.  Or does it flake/dribble off in chunks?  Ready.  Stop boiling!
2.  The plate test
Chill a plate in the fridge.  Place some marmalade on the chilled plate and wait for a minute.  Drag your finger through the marmalade...does it wrinkle up and can you make a path with your finger? It's ready!

I found 20 minutes was sufficient for a set.

Once 'ready', let your marmalade rest so it forms a skin and then ladle into clean and sterilized jars.  Top each with a wax paper square and then some plastic wrap with an elastic band to seal it all in.  You could also use the lid of the jar, just sterilize it as well.

There you go!  A couple jars of beautiful home made marmalade!  Easy eh?  The flavour does improve with time, I've found...but it's hard not to dig in right now :)  Next time, I shall make more!

Next on the agenda is preserved lemons...but that's another post...

Enjoy,
Kat