Lemon Marmalade

By á-48098

Ingredients

• 9 - 10 lemons (washed well, preferably organic)
• 12 1/2 cups of water
• honey (approx. 4 - 8 c. depending on liquid at the end)

Details

Adapted from strangersandpilgrimsonearth.blogspot.com

Preparation

Step 1

Remove the zest from the lemons and slice it up into thin strips. Set aside.

Chop the flesh of your lemons and keep its juices. Set aside.

The seeds should be placed in a piece of cheesecloth. If you have extra thick pith (the white stuff surrounding the lemon under the peel), you can include it with the seeds inside your cloth. These ingredients are kept because they are full of pectin. This is what naturally thickens your marmalade.

Place your chopped lemon flesh (with its juices) and your sliced zest, in a stainless steel pot. Tie your seeds and excess pith up in a piece of cheesecloth and add to the pot (keep it floating on top by tying the bundle to the handle of your pan).

Add 12 ½ cups of water to your pot and bring all the ingredients to a boil.

Once it comes to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer and stir occasionally for 1 - 1-½ hours, or until the zest is very soft.
(Your mixture should be reduced by about one-third. If not, keep on simmering until it does.) Remove the cheesecloth bag and carefully squeeze out any excess juices back into the pot. Discard contents of cheesecloth.

Measure the remaining juice (I use a large, glass, heat-proof measuring cup). For each one-cup of juice, measure out ¾cup of honey and place into your stainless steel pot (same one that had lemon mixture is fine, no need to wash).

Next, add the lemon liquid back into your pot of honey. Stir the mixture at low heat until honey is dissolved. Once that isachieved, boil your mixture rapidly, without stirring for 15minutes or until your marmalade reaches setting point (220degrees). Skim off any froth/foam.

Let marmalade “rest” for five minutes before placing in hot, sterilized jars (making sure to leave 1/8 inch headspace). This keeps the fruit from floating on the top and will help to evenly distribute the peels throughout your preserves.

Process jars in a boiling water bath canner. Pint jars should be processed for 10 minutes and half-pint jars for 5 minutes.

Option: Instead of canning, freeze cooled marmalade in individual plastic containers.