Making Marmalade: Tips & Techniques

[jackal10]

To get the marmelade to set reboil it until it reaches 221F, then you will have the right sugar concentration.

Marmelade (and all jams) are acid, so hostile to botulism, You won't get botulism by eating it. Fat and a sugar rush maybe, but not botulism. Unless, of course, you spread your marmelade on botulism infected hamburger...

You might get yeasts and molds on the surface - personally I just scrape them off.

[Dukeofyork]

Thanks so much. I know this is a weird first post, but at least I got tips on how to get my marmlade to set...!

[purplewiz]

To get the marmelade  to set reboil it until it reaches 221F, then you will have the right sugar concentration.

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Just wanted to mention that this is at sea level. I believe the general rule that the jellying point is 8 degrees Fahrenheit over the boiling point of water....which is about 206F where I live.

Marcia.

[jsolomon]

One of the constants in my family is giving the gift of food. Usually it's hot stuff, but occasionally not.

This year, I think I'm going to try to give orange jalapeno or orange habanero marmalade.

Does anyone have experience putting orange and pepper together in a marmalade? Do you have any suggestions? I'm not sure my fiance will understand if I have to test more than two recipes before being satisfied with the finished product.

[chappie]

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.

[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?

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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 November 30, 2005 by mikelbarnz (log)

[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 November 30, 2005 by foodie52 (log)

[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.

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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.

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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 November 25, 2007 by andiesenji (log)

[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.