60 replies to this topic

[fifi]

I have had what seemed to me to be habanero/marmalade combos in dipping sauces like for coconut shrimp. That is a very nice combo. I am thinking that the jalapeno might taste a little green but I have never tried it. What you can do is get some marmalade from the grocery, add a bit of pepper and heat it for a while to see what you think.

A word of warning. Whatever pepper you chose, be meticulous about seeding and deveining. I went through a period of trying to candy jalapeno strips. I had seen these made from red jalapenos in a Martha Stewart magazine. I was never successful and always ended up with limp and wrinkled pepper. I had a LOT of "jalapeno syrup" hanging around and gave a bunch away. Then I started getting the phone calls. There was something about heating the pepper in sugar solution that got every last bit of capsaicin out of the carefully seeded and deveined peppers. I went to taste some of the horrible looking pepper strips and just about launched. And I am no pepper wimp. Aaannnddd . . . The longer it sat the hotter it got. I haven't looked into the science behind all of this.

[snowangel]

Interesting that you bring this up! I have been thinking of the same thing, ever since this weekend when we had some orange haberno marmalade. I, like fifi, think that these peppers need to be fully seeded and deveined. This marmalade was outstanding. A very nice combo. Expecially with a runny brie.

Along these same lines, I have a couple of gallons of rasberry juice (it has been reduced a bit) in the freezer and have been contemplating a raspberry/chipotle jelly. Any ideas on this? Use dried chipotles? Re-consituted ones? Or, chipotles in adobo with the adobo removed?

[rlibkind]

Cherries (sour) and chili peppers works might well. Made some about a year ago with frozen cherries. Yum. Can't recall precisely, but I might have used jalapeno.

[chappie]

I have a couple of gallons of rasberry juice (it has been reduced a bit) in the freezer and have been contemplating a raspberry/chipotle jelly.  Any ideas on this?  Use dried chipotles?  Re-consituted ones?  Or, chipotles in adobo with the adobo removed?

I would stay away from the chipotles in adobo, because they'll still taste like the adobo, which I believe has garlic in it. Go with dried and you'll get the pure chipotle. Cooking them with the fruit will be all the reconstituting you need.

[fifi]

I am with chappie on the raspberry/chipotle. I am also thinking that the green taste of jalepeno might work well with raspberry. My taster is just thinking aloud, though. I would do a few tablespoons to taste test before commiting a whole batch of jelly. Again, you can get a raspberry jelly from the store to experiment with. It won't be the same as what you have in your freezer but the flavor notes will be close enough.

I had a wonderful dessert in Mexico one time that was basically a mango frozen mousse with finely diced habanero in it. That combo was dynamite. I have often thought of trying to make a mango jam like that when the mangos come in ripe and cheap here.

[mikelbarnz]

A friend of mine here in Austin used to market a chipotle jelly based around apple juice, but I can only imagine that any fruit would work. Hudson's on the Bend (famous southwestern/game restaurant in Austin) markets a raspberry chipotle sauce that is very popular in these parts. You might try googling it, or try Jeff Blank's "Fearless Cooking".

As far as the marmalade is concerned, I've always prefered the flavor of dried chilies with orange. Try flaking (flash fry and crush) a seeded ancho, passila, or cascabel, then stir the flakes into your marmalade base for the last ten minutes of cooking. I've done this with ancho, and used the marmalade as a glaze and sauce on duck or pork.

Edited by mikelbarnz, 30 November 2005 - 11:37 AM.

[foodie52]

The roasted raspberry chipotle is actually from Fischer and Wieser in Fredericksburg. Hudson's does an orange chipotle bbq sauce , among others.

My fav company featuring chiles is Austin Slow Burn. Their Rosemary Habanero Jelly, Cranberry Habanero Jam, Green Chile Jam,, APple Pie Jam with Jalapeno and Peacvh Jam with Serrano - all ROCK!

Edited by foodie52, 30 November 2005 - 11:47 AM.

[jsolomon]

I think habañero — used carefully — will complement the orange better than would jalapeño. Another suggestion would be to use the omnipresent clementines that go on sale this time of year. Might make a unique product.

Now that I think more about it, you're right. I might to a lime/jalapeno in a small batch for a few people, though.

[fifi]

. . . . .
Now that I think more about it, you're right.  I might to a lime/jalapeno in a small batch for a few people, though.

Drat! You beat me to it! I was just thinking of that combo as I went into the kitchen and happened to check on the status of my salt preserved limes. If you could find a few red jalapenos to add to the mix, that would be really pretty. . . all of those bright red itty bitty cubes floating in a green sea of lime.

[jsolomon]

I never thought of using salt-preserved limes. I've never had anything with them or salt-preserved lemons. So, I don't really have a basis for their flavor.

Are they something I ought to consider?

[fifi]

Check out preserved lemons, and limes (scroll down) here. If your folks would be into cooking with them, they are a good gift. I used some of the calamondin in a pork roast here. I used some of the lime in chicken with tequila.

[snowangel]

I was gifted with a whole mess of home grown (not in MN, but in AZ) oranges, and needed to use a bunch of them. I thought of this topic and thought of habaneros and oranges and marmalade.

So, after more stirring than I thought possible:



A close up:



This stuff is divine. Just enough heat to not overwhelm, but be present. If the family didn't require dinner tonight, I'd be all over a toasted bagel with cream cheese and some of this stuff.

I used a basic recipe from the Ball Blue Book. 2 cups of peel, 1 quart of pulp and 4 habaneros. One of the habarneros was on steroid, one was merely large, and the other two were merely average. All de-ribbed and deseeded.

Nirvana!

[pip]

Hi all. I've got dozens of oranges and am interested in making fruit juice sweetened marmalade, but even a single recipe eludes me. Recipes I pull up from google all seem to try to replace the sugar with splenda, stevia, and the lot. Yuck! And surprisingly, I haven't had much luck with "natural" or low/no-sugar cookbooks. I know there must be some good recipes using grape juice concentrate. I buy TJ's fruit juice-sweetenend spreads and can't keep them stocked in my fridge--same for St. Dalfour's kumquat marmalade. So I know I don't need to reinvent the wheel here. Any pointers, leads, or tried and true recipes?

[The Old Foodie]

The sugar in jam (jelly) / marmalade is there to (1) sweeten (2) make it gel and (3) act as a preservative.

You can get around
(1) by using artificial sweetener (horrible) or nothing, if you dont mind it not so sweet. Use fruit juice instead of water in the recipe. If you are using fruit juice concentrate, you are just using a liquid form of sugar, essentially. Honey is OK too (adjust the amount of water in your recipe if you use honey).
(2) use pectin or gelatin
(3) no way around this one, if you dont use a lot of sugar, the marmalade wont keep very well, so make small amounts and keep in the fridge or freezer.

If you search for "refrigerator jams" or jellies, you'll get some ideas.

Keep us posted!

Janet

[Rose&Thorn]

This is a picture of my marmalade. I have to learn to wait before I bottle, so the fruit does not float. But I get a little impatient when I am finished and just want to get everything in the bottle. I hope the picture works - this is my first attempt.

Thanks Rob for the instructions.

[gfron1]

Orange marmalade from Amernick's Art of the Dessert. This was super! I would add a bit more sugar for my sweet tooth.

[Terrasanct]

I've never tried to make marmalade before. And I'll be honest, I didn't so much use a recipe as make use of all of the leftovers from making a huge batch of candied orange peel. But I've made tons of other kinds of preserves and it looked promising. When I went to bed last night I transferred the marmalade to the slow cooker and put it on low. I got up this morning to check it and it's turned really dark, and has a taste almost like molasses--not that strong, but something like it. It's still a good flavor, but it's not what I was aiming for.

If I decide to go ahead and bottle it, should I add anything to it to lighten it up or to flavor it? I'd hate to waste it at this point.

The candied peel turned out lovely, at any rate. Thanks to whomever it was that posted the recipes and methods to make it in other threads.

[andiesenji]

The marmalade will be just fine.

In fact, you will find that the deeper flavor will taste wonderful with cheeses.

Some people actually "burn" marmalades and jams on purpose to give it a hint of bitterness to make them taste better with cheeses.

These are "naturally" more expensive because of the lengthier processing time. Who knows, they may have begun as a "mistake" but now are merchandised as condiment for cheese or?.

Somewhere in my piles of clipped recipes is one that includes "fried" quince jam or marmalade that is simply combined with browned butter in a small pan and drizzled over a pizza made with fresh cheeses and grapes, for a dessert pizza. I tried it once and thought it was terrific. I had forgotten all about it and am so happy that your post has reminded me of it.

Edited by andiesenji, 25 November 2007 - 01:59 PM.

[GTO]

Agreed. It's gonna be great with some really hard, aged cheese.

[Terrasanct]

Thanks; I appreciate the replies. I always like chutneys with cheese; maybe I've entered chutney territory with this now.

I added some ginger and a hint of cinnamon and I like the flavor. I think I'm going to call it Evil Marmalade.

[Abra]

I've been making what I think is the best Seville orange marmalade I've ever tasted. It's not like anything else I've had before, very caramelized and intense.

[tangaloor]

Abra, would you mind giving out the recipe for your marmalade? It looks beautiful.

I've found that adding 10-25% or so of kumquats really brightens the flavour of my marmalade, so that it tastes super juicy. Of course, they are expensive...

[Abra]

I'll be happy to send the recipe to anyone who PM's me, but it's two typed pages so I won't post it here. You've got to have Seville oranges, though, regular oranges won't work for this recipe.

[jduncan81]

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but Suvir's marmalade sounds fantastic and I have a pile of meyers just aching to become marmalade right now.

I emailed Suvir but haven't heard anything back - does anyone else have this recipe?

Many thanks!

[kbjesq]

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but Suvir's marmalade sounds fantastic and I have a pile of meyers just aching to become marmalade right now.

I emailed Suvir but haven't heard anything back - does anyone else have this recipe?

Many thanks!

How timely! I've been meaning to search the archives as I, too, have an abundance of meyer lemons in my backyard. I would be grateful if someone could share a tried-and-true recipe for meyer lemon marmalade. There are many recipes floating around on the web, but I would prefer one that's been vetted by EG.

[jduncan81]

Bump? Still looking for a meyer marmalade recipe :)

[eatrustic]

We're in full Seville Orange season (and it's a short one) so nows the time if ever to make up a batch of marmalade.
There are various techniques out there to prepare the citrus. Some call for the whole fruit to be poached but I prefer juicing, removing the membrane, cutting the peel with a good knife and soaking it all with a cheesecloth bag of the seeds and some of the pulp to give a nice bright color and flavor.

This is my "knife skills" technique to make 7 or 8 -250ml. jars and works basically for other citrus as well with a couple of exceptions I'll note later. This is a two day process due to the presoaking of the peel.

700 gr. whole Seville oranges (5 - 6 preferably organic)
1.35 liters water
sugar to the measured amount of poached peel and liquid
(juice of a lemon - optional)
cheesecloth

Day 1
Wash and juice the oranges (they have lots more seeds than regular oranges), reserving the seeds and juice for the soaking process.



Slide the edge of a spoon between the membrane and the pith of the orange and remove the membrane, reserving about half for soaking with the seeds. You may also chop up some or all of the membrane to be added to the marmalade itself but I find it "muddies" the final taste.


Using a sharp knife cut the orange peel into rough juliennes and then into segments, adjust size of pieces to suit your taste.



Place all the cut peel in a non reactive bowl with the water. Using a piece of cheesecloth wrap up all the seeds and about half the membrane, roughly chopped, and tie tightly to ensure no leakage of seeds. Place in the bowl with the peel and the water. Cover and leave at cool room temp for 24 hours. This is very important as it helps the development of the natural pectin in the seeds.

End of Day 1.

[eatrustic]

Day 2

Once your peel mixture has soaked for 24 hours it's time to poach the peel along with the cheesecloth bag of seeds until the peel is very tender. It should squish between your fingers as it will not get any softer once the sugar is added. This poaching process can take 20 - 25 minutes depending on how tough the peel is. Make sure that you do not cook the peel at a full boil or it will reduce the amount of liquid drastically and affect your marmalade consistency. I simmer mine partially covered with a lid to retain as much liquid as possible.
Once the peel is soft, remove the cheesecloth and squeeze any excess liquid from it (without bursting the bag!).

Measure out your peel with all the juice and pour into one or two heavy non reactive pots. Then measure out an equal amount of sugar and add to the peel.


Make sure the sugar has dissolved before you bring the pot to a full boil.
I try to not have my pots more than a third full to start as you need to boil the marmalade fairly hard and you do not want this boiling over!
I use a high temp spatula to stir the bottom of the pot as the peel can tend to stick and even burn.




Once the peel mixture comes to a full boil the fun begins as you will need to cook it until it has reached the magical setting point. This should take about 15 - 20 minutes. Be very careful from now on as you are working with extremely hot and potentially dangerous temperatures. Take the phone off the hook and get someone to watch the kids as this will need your full attention.

I have experimented with temperatures and some people can tell just by the sound of the bubbles but I find the most reliable way to ensure a good set is the old fashioned cold plate in the fridge or freezer. Once you feel you are getting close; take the plate out of the fridge and put a teaspoon or so of your hot mixture on it and return the plate to the fridge for a couple of minutes. To test the set push the cool mixture with your fingertip and if it wrinkles a bit you are good to go. You should stop your cooking process each time you conduct this test in order to ensure you do not go too far past the set point and make a really stiff marmalade. Don't be fooled by how liquid the hot marmalade is.
Seville oranges along with their bitter flavor have a lot more pectin than any other citrus and need to just barely wrinkle in my experience in order to achieve a nice set. Other citrus like Meyer lemons should have a fairly stiff "wrinkle" test in order to set up and even then they are more of a soft set in the jar, more suited to spooning than spreading with a knife.

Once you have determined that your marmalade is ready you will need to let it cool a bit before putting in sterile jars. I find that letting it cool to 155 - 160F. ensures that you will not have the problem of all the peel floating to the top of the jar.


Once filled I seal the jars and process for 5 minutes in boiling water. Although marmalade is a bit of a challenge to make the first couple of times, once you have practiced and made some notes you will find that the finished product is miles ahead of even the best imported marmalades.


Please feel free to offer any criticism or variations on this as I've simply adapted techniques I've come across over the years and welcome any new insights.

[eatrustic]

Bump? Still looking for a meyer marmalade recipe :)

Here are the proportions for a Meyer Lemon batch, just follow the technique from the previous post. Because Meyer Lemons have way less pectin than Sevilles you will get a softer set that works best being spooned onto your toast (or for roasting a chicken or pork!).

For about 12 -14 - 250ml jars:
1.7 kilos whole lemons
2.25 liters water
sugar to equal the poached peel with liquid

The only difference in making this compared to the Seville marm above is that when you poach the soaked peel it will be ready in about 10 minutes. Also, make sure that your "set" test gives a nice stiff wrinkle as it will be too soft otherwise.
Meyer and Sevilles combine beautifully to make a combo marmalade and that gets around the lack of pectin in the Meyers. .

[kbjesq]

Bump? Still looking for a meyer marmalade recipe :)

Here are the proportions for a Meyer Lemon batch, just follow the technique from the previous post. Because Meyer Lemons have way less pectin than Sevilles you will get a softer set that works best being spooned onto your toast (or for roasting a chicken or pork!).

For about 12 -14 - 250ml jars:
1.7 kilos whole lemons
2.25 liters water
sugar to equal the poached peel with liquid

The only difference in making this compared to the Seville marm above is that when you poach the soaked peel it will be ready in about 10 minutes. Also, make sure that your "set" test gives a nice stiff wrinkle as it will be too soft otherwise.
Meyer and Sevilles combine beautifully to make a combo marmalade and that gets around the lack of pectin in the Meyers. .

Thank you very much for this info and the pictorial. Now if I can just set aside enough time this weekend to get this project done, I will be very happy indeed.