Brandy Meyer Lemon Marmalade Recipes

Steps:

• Note that the proportion of lemon segments to water to sugar is 1:1:1. So if you don't have a kitchen scale and don't weigh your lemons to begin with, as you proceed through this recipe keep in mind these proportions. Your 2 1/2 lbs of lemons should yield 6 cups of chopped lemon. 6 cups of chopped lemon will be cooked first with 6 cups of water, and then later 6 cups of sugar are added. You can also do this recipe with 4 cups of chopped lemons, 4 cups of water, and 4 cups of sugar. Do not double the recipe. Do not reduce the sugar (if you want a reduced sugar recipe, use a different recipe); the sugar is needed for the jelly to set.
• PREPARING THE FRUIT.
• Scrub the lemons clean. Discard any that are moldy or damaged.
• Prepare the lemons. Cut 1/4 inch off from the ends of the lemons. Working one at a time, stand a lemon on end. Cut the lemon in half lengthwise. Cut each lemon half into several segments, lengthwise. As you cut the lemons into segments, if you can, pull off any exposed membranes. Just get the ones that are easy to get to, ignore the rest. When you've cut down to the final segment, cut away the pithy core. Remove all seeds from the segments. Reserve the seeds and any removed membrane or pith. You will need them to make pectin. Cut each lemon segment crosswise into even pieces to make little triangles of lemon peel and pulp.
• Put all of the seeds, membranes and pith you removed from the lemons into a bag fashioned out of two layers of cheesecloth or a muslin jelly bag.
• FIRST STAGE OF COOKING.
• Place the lemon segments and water into a large, wide pot.
• Place the pectin bag in the pot with the fruit pulp and secure to the pot handle.
• Bring mixture to a medium boil on medium high heat. Let boil, uncovered, for about 25-35 minutes, until the peels are soft and cooked through. Test one of the lemon peel pieces by eating it. It should be soft. If it is still chewy, keep cooking until soft.
• Remove from heat.
• Remove the pectin bag, place the pectin bag in a bowl and let cool until it is comfortable to touch.
• ADD THE PECTIN AND SUGAR.
• Once your pectin bag has cooled to the point you can handle it, if you want, squeeze it like play-doh to extract any extra pectin. This is not necessary but will help ensure a good set. (I like to wear latex-type gloves for this part.) You should be able to get a tablespoon or two more from the bag. It has the consistency of sour cream. Return this pectin to the pan with the lemon mixture.
• Measure out your sugar and add it to the pan with the lemon mixture.
• SECOND STAGE OF COOKING.
• Heat the jelly mixture on medium high and bring it to a rapid boil. Secure a candy thermometer to the side of the pan. The marmalade may take anywhere from 20 to 35 minutes or so to be ready to pour out. After about 15 minutes, start checking it frequently.
• There are two ways to test that the marmalade is ready to pour out into jars - the mixture reaching a temperature of 220-222°F (8-10°F above the boiling point at your altitude) and a bit of it put on a chilled plate "wrinkling up" when you push it with your finger tip. I do both.
• For the wrinkle test, put several small plates into the freezer. As the jelly temperature reaches 218°F, start testing it by placing a small amount of the hot jelly on a chilled plate. If the jelly spreads out and thins immediately, it isn't ready. If it holds its shape a bit, like an egg yolk, that's a good sign. Push up against it with your finger tip. If the jelly sample wrinkles at all, it is time to take the jelly off the heat and pour it out into jars.
• When you use a candy thermometer to test the temperature of your mixture, make sure the probe is NOT touching the bottom of the pan. Make sure that the indentation on the probe (with modern candy thermometers this is about an inch and a half from the bottom of the probe) is actually surrounded by the mixture. This may mean that you have to tilt the pan to one side, to cover the probe sufficiently to get a good reading.
• CANNING.
• While the marmalade is in its second cooking stage, rinse out your canning jars, dry them, and place them, without lids, in a 200°F oven. They should be in the oven at least 10 minutes before using them.
• As the time approaches for the marmalade to be done, boil some water in a tea pot. Put the jar lids in a glass or ceramic bowl and pour the boiling water over them to sterilize.
• Once the jelly has reached 220°F or its "wrinkly" stage, remove the jelly pot from the heat. Carefully ladle the jelly into the jars, one at a time, leaving 1/4 inch head space at the top of the jars for a vacuum seal. Wipe the rim clean with a clean, wet paper towel. Place the lid on the jar, securing with a jar ring. Work quickly.
• Allow the jars to sit overnight. You will hear them make a popping sound as a vacuum seal is created.
• Even if the jelly is not firm as it goes into the jar (it shouldn't be), it should firm up as it cools.

Steps:

• Halve lemons crosswise and remove seeds. Tie seeds in a cheesecloth bag. Quarter each lemon half and thinly slice. Combine with bag of seeds and water in a 5-quart nonreactive heavy pot and let mixture stand, covered, at room temperature 24 hours.
• Bring lemon mixture (including the bag of seeds) to a boil over moderate heat and add brandy. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until reduced to approximately 4 cups, about 45 minutes. Stir in sugar and boil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally and skimming off all foam and scum until it reaches 215 to 220°F Remove the bag of seeds.
• Ladle hot marmalade into 3 pint size jars and wipe rims with dampened cloth and seal jars with lids.
• Put jars in a water-bath canner or on a rack set in a deep pot. Add enough hot water to cover jars by 1 inch and bring to a boil. Boil jars, covered, 15 minutes and transfer with tongs to a rack. Cool jars completely.
• Marmalade keeps, stored in a cool, dark place, up to 1 year.

Steps:

• Rinse the lemons and pat dry. Halve the lemons crosswise and juice them, reserving the juice. Using a spoon, scrape the pulp and seeds from the halves. Using a sharp knife, slice the peels 1/8 inch thick.
• In a large, heavy saucepan, cover the strips with 8 cups of cold water and bring to a boil; boil for 1 minute. Drain the strips and rinse under cold running water. Blanch two more times; the final time, drain the strips but do not rinse them.
• Return the strips to the saucepan. Add the reserved juice and the sugar. Simmer over moderate heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then skimming any foam, until the marmalade sets, about 30 minutes.
• Spoon the marmalade into 5 hot 1/2-pint canning jars, leaving 1/4 inch of space at the top, and close with the lids and rings. To process, boil the jars for 15 minutes in water to cover. Let stand at room temperature for 2 days before serving.
• MAKE AHEAD The processed marmalade can be stored in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year. Refrigerate after opening.

Steps:

• Day 1.
• The first step is to give the lemons a really good scrub, and remove the eyes (the little circular bits that come off the ends, where they used to join on the tree).
• Then they need to be cut in half and juiced. Save the juice.
• Remove the pips, and save them on a saucer.
• Now slice the skins of the lemons into the thinnest slices that you can possibly manage without losing any of your digits.
• Place the slices into a large non-metallic bowl, add the lemon juice and give everything a bit of a stir.
• Place all of the saved pips onto a piece of muslin (you can buy this in any good kitchen shop), and tie to make a little package with a piece of string. The idea is to hold the pips and not let them mix through the marmalade. They will help your mixture to set, and the parcelling-them-up business will make it easier to discard them before bottling.
• Place the muslin parcel of pips in the bowl with the sliced lemons in their juice and add 2.8 litres of fresh water. Give the mixture a bit of a stir-about, and leave covered in a clean t-towel overnight so that the acidity of the liquid will soften the skins.
• Day 2 - roughly 24 hours later.
• Take an old saucer and put it in the freezer to get it crazy cold. You will use this to test the consistency of your marmalade later in the process.
• Put your lemon skin/juice/pips/water mixture in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Leave to boil gently for about two and a half hours until the skins are soft and slightly translucent.
• While you're waiting for the skins to cook you should sterilise your jam jars. Wash both the jars and their lids in hot soapy water. Rinse well with warm clean water. Dry the outsides but not the insides. Place them on a baking tray (open top ends up) with the lids (top sides up) on a separate tray in an oven pre-heated to 150 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes to half an hour.
• You should also 'warm' your sugar. With about half an hour to go before the lemons are ready, weigh it out and put it in the oven at about 150 degrees Celsius in a large flat dish.
• After the lemons in the saucepan have been boiled to the point where they are soft and translucent, add the sugar, citric acid and the lavender seeds with a knob of butter (this helps to stop it burning, according to my mum) and bring to a rolling boil, which is a gentle boil that isn't too violent - think of gently churning rapids downstream from a large waterfall. Stir occasionally and let everything boil for another fifteen to twenty minutes or so until it starts to set. You should use your thermometer for this stage to check the temperature. The marmalade will start to set at around 106 degrees Celsius.
• When it reaches this stage, and you see it starting to thicken, you need to do the frozen saucer test.
• Take your saucer from the freezer and drip a little drop of the marmalade onto it. Leave it for a few seconds and then gently push it with your fingertip. If the marmalade is ready it should have formed a thin skin on top and you should be getting wrinkles when you apply pressure. It may still seem to be too liquid for spreading on your toast, but if there is a very thin skin with wrinkles you are good to go. The mixture will thicken/ solidify a bit more once it cools. This is the trickiest stage of the process, so do keep your eyes peeled.
• Anyway if you haven't reached this point let the mixture boil on for another three or four minutes and test again. Keep going until you get that skin-and-wrinkle-thing happening on your saucer, but be really careful as it can easily burn if it overheats (and, believe me, cleaning the bottom of the saucepan when it does is a nightmare job).
• When the magic point arrives (skin and wrinkles on the saucer) take the saucepan straight off the heat, and let everything sit for about 10 minutes before starting to bottle it into the jars. This slight cooling should result in the optimum amount of peel being dispersed through the mix rather than all settling at the bottom of the jars.
• Remove your little parcel of pips and fill each jar to the neck. I use my oven gloves and a soup ladle that I've washed down with boiling water for this part of the operation. Then place a disk of waxed paper on top, and put on the lids.
• When the jars have cooled down label and store.

Steps:

• Place cut up carrots and lemons in blender.
• Chopped fine, makes 3 cups carrots and 3/4 cup lemon.
• Place in large pan (chopped carrots and lemons); add sugar, salt and water.
• Bring to boil and cook for 10 minutes.
• Add the cherries and cook 5 minutes more or until thick.
• Pour in sterilized small jars; seal.

Steps:

• Remove peel and pith from 2 Meyer and 2 regular lemons. Remove seeds and coarsely chop fruit. Thinly slice remaining 2 Meyer and 2 regular lemons; remove seeds. Combine all lemons in a medium saucepan. Add 2 cups water and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Press parchment directly onto surface and refrigerate at least 8 hours and up to 1 day.
• Place a few small plates in freezer. Remove parchment from lemon mixture; return to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until rinds are very tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Measure mixture (you should have about 3 cups), then return to pan. For every cup of mixture, add 1 cup sugar. Add cardamom and salt.
• Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Clip a candy thermometer to pan and continue to boil, stirring frequently, until rinds are translucent, mixture has a golden-amber color, and thermometer reads 220 degrees, 15 to 20 minutes. To confirm doneness, drop a spoonful of mixture on a frozen plate; if marmalade has a slight film when pushed with a finger, it's done. If it spreads out and thins immediately, continue cooking and test again after a few minutes. Transfer marmalade to airtight containers and let cool completely. Cover and refrigerate up to 1 month.

Steps:

• Halve lemons crosswise and remove seeds. Tie seeds in a cheesecloth bag. Quarter each lemon half and thinly slice. Combine with bag of seeds and water in a 5-quart nonreactive heavy pot and let mixture stand, covered, at room temperature 24 hours.
• Bring lemon mixture to a boil over moderate heat. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until reduced to 4 cups, about 45 minutes. Stir in sugar and boil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally and skimming off any foam, until a teaspoon of mixture dropped on a cold plate gels, about 15 minutes.
• Ladle hot marmalade into jars, filling to within 1/4 inch of top. Wipe rims with dampened cloth and seal jars with lids.
• Put jars in a water-bath canner or on a rack set in a deep pot. Add enough hot water to cover jars by 1 inch and bring to a boil. Boil jars, covered, 5 minutes and transfer with tongs to a rack. Cool jars completely.

Steps:

• Wash and slice lemons to the size you wish to have in the finished marmalade. Carefully remove all seeds and seedless to prevent the marmalade from having a bitter taste.
• Measure fruit and juice and add 3 times the amount of water. Soak for 12 hours.
• Simmer for about 20 minutes (be careful not to boil).
• Let stand again for 12 hours.
• For every cup of fruit and juice, add 3/4 cup sugar. Cook these ingredients in small quantities (about 220 degrees to 222 degrees). For yellow color, do not boil. Can or seal with paraffin.

Steps:

• Prepare canner, jars, and lids.
• Measure sugar and set aside.
• Using a vegetable peeler, remove yellow lemon peel in long strips. Cut strips into thin slices. Reserve fruit.
• In a large deep stainless steel saucepan, combine lemon peel, baking soda, and water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat, cover, and boil gently for 5 minutes until peel is softened. Remove from heat and set aside.
• Using a sharp knife, cut white pith from lemons. Working over a large bowl to catch juice, use sharp knife to separate lemon segments from membrane. Place segments in bowl and squeeze membrane to remove as much juice as possible, collecting in bowl. Discard membrane and seeds.
• Measure 1 cup lemon segments and juice. Add to softened lemon peel with gingerroot. Whisk in pectin until dissolved.
• Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Add sugar all at once and return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil hard, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim off foam.
• Ladle hot marmalade into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust head space if necessary by adding hot marmalade. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.
• Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered by water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool, and store.

Steps:

• Day 1, Morning: Take the 1/2 pound of lemons and cut them into eighths. Place these in a non-reactive saucepan where they will fit snugly in a single layer. Add enough cold water for the fruit to bob freely. Cover tightly and let rest for 8 hours at room temperature.
• Day 1, Afternoon: After 8 hours have passed, bring the pan with the lemon eighths and water to a boil over high heat, then decrease the heat to medium-low. Cook the fruit at a lively simmer, covered, for 2 hours - the lemons will become very soft and the liquid will become slightly syrupy. As the lemons cook, press down on them gently with a spoon every 30 minutes or so, adding a little more water if necessary. The water level should remain consistently high enough for the fruit to remain fully submerged as it cooks.
• When the lemons are finished cooking, strain their juice by pouring the hot fruit and liquid into a fine mesh strainer or jelly bag set over a medium bowl. Cover the whole setup with plastic wrap and let drip overnight at room temperature.
• Meanwhile, prepare the Meyer lemon slices.
• To prepare the Meyer lemon slices: take the pound of Meyer lemons and halve them lengthwise, then cut each half into quarters (each lemon will be cut into 8 pieces at this point). Take each lemon slice and pry out any seeds from it. You can place these seeds in the pot with the lemon eighths and water which is currently simmering - this will add more pectin.
• Slice each Meyer lemon slice thinly crosswise - how thick you slice is a personal preference. I prefer to slice very thinly, making each slice 1/8th of an inch or less. But if you like you could make your slices thicker. I wouldn't recommend going much thicker than 1/4 of an inch.
• Place these Meyer lemon slices (they will look like a lot of little triangles) in a stainless steel pot and cover with water, covering the slices by 1 inch. Bring to a boil over high heat, then decrease the heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain, discarding the liquid. Return the lemon slices to the pot and cover with 1 inch of cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat, decrease the heat to medium-low, and cook at a lively simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. As the fruit cooks, stir it gently every 10 minutes or so, adding a little more water if necessary. The water level should stay consistently high enough for the fruit to remain submerged as it cooks. After 20 minutes, remove the pan from the heat, cover tightly, and let rest overnight at room temperature.
• Day 2, Morning: Remove the plastic wrap from the lemon eighths and their liquid and discard the lemons remaining in the strainer or jelly bag. Do not squeeze the bag or press down on the lemons if you want a clear jelly in your marmalade. Set this liquid aside.
• Pour the Meyer lemon slices and their liquid through a fine mesh strainer (or a jelly bag), and let this mixture drip for about 15 minutes. Remove the Meyer lemon slices from the strainer - DO NOT DISCARD - set them aside. Mix the cooked liquid you have strained from the lemon eighths and the Meyer lemons, mixing well, and set aside. You will need 4 1/2 cups of this liquid. If you do not have 4 1/2 cups, add water to the mixture until it equals 4 1/2 cups.
• In a large preserving pan, combine the blueberries with 1 1/2 cups of sugar. I use a potato masher to mash up some of the blueberries, about a third of them, but you don't have to do this. I just feel that it gets the juices flowing quicker. Bring the blueberries and sugar to a simmer, stirring frequently, and then continue to cook until the juices are just deep enough to cover the berries, about 5 minutes.
• Pour the berries into a colander set over a large bowl, and stir the berries gently to drain off the juice. Set the colander of berries on a plate (to catch any remaining juice) and set them aside.
• In a large preserving pan, combine the 4 1/2 cups of mixed liquid from the lemons, the juice from the blueberries, and the Meyer lemon slices. If you do not have a preserving pan, use the widest pan you have. The wider the pan, the more quickly moisture will evaporate from the mixture, and this is what you want when you are making jelly, jam, or marmalade.
• Place 4 saucers or small plates in the freezer. You will use these later to check the set of the marmalade.
• Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, and cook at a rapid boil over high heat until the mixture is reduced by half, stirring occasionally. It will take about 35 minutes for the mixture to reduce by half.
• Once the mixture is reduced by half, add in the blueberries and any accumulated juice, the strained lemon juice, and the remaining 4 cups sugar, stirring well over high heat to help dissolve the sugar.
• Cook at a boil over high heat, stirring every 2 minutes or so, until the set point is reached. Check the set after 5 minutes of cooking.
• To check the set: take the pot of marmalade off the heat (if you don't remove the marmalade from the heat while you check the set it could over-cook and become rubbery or hard, if the marmalade is indeed already set).
• Place a drop of the marmalade mixture (try to get the "jelly" part of the mixture, avoiding the rind and the berries; I use a 1/4 teaspoon measure to dip out the drop) on one of the saucers you've kept in the freezer, & place the saucer back in the freezer for 1 minute. After 1 minute, take the saucer out of the freezer and nudge the drop of jelly with your finger. If it "wrinkles" when you nudge it with your finger it is done. If the jelly is not set, continue cooking over medium-high heat, checking the set again every 5 minutes.
• I make this marmalade using an 11 quart copper preserving pan, over highest heat on my second largest burner. After the sugar has been added and has dissolved, it usually takes 10 minutes of cooking for the marmalade to reach the set point for me.
• When the marmalade is set, ladle it into sterilized canning jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Wipe the rims of the jars with damp paper towels to remove any marmalade which got on the rims or the threads. Place the lids and the bands on the jars, just tightening the bands fingertip tight.
• Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes, then remove and let sit, undisturbed, for at least 12 hours before checking seals. It is important to let them sit undisturbed for 12 hours because the sealing compound on the lids is still cooling and hardening, completing the seal. While the jars cool, you will hear a "plink" type sound from each jar - this is the jars completing the vacuum seal as the final air escapes the jar. After 12 hours have passed, remove the bands and check the lids - press down in the center of the lid. If you cannot push the lid down any further, the jar is sealed. If the lid "gives" a bit, and you can push it down, the jar did not seal. You can either put the band back on the jar, and reprocess it for another 5 minutes, or you can just put it in the fridge and use it within 3 months.