The last month was a marmalade and fruit chutney frenzy. Gearing up for Belle Jar sales, gift giving, party hosting, party going. I felt permanently sticky. This was the first year I made marmalade, and I’ve decided they’re my favorite, besides Peach Bourbon, Blueberry, Blackberry, Strawberry … Okay, beside all the summer fruit jams. Really, I love marmalade now!
It’s funny, I get in the kitchen and create away.. thinking I’m doing something new, a new method, new recipe, no one has EVER done this before! blah..blah… I made Pink Grapefruit Cranberry Marmalade. I thought it was unique. It’s important to remember that art cycles itself. Music, Fashion, Fine Art, Cooking, Baking, it’s all been done before. Maybe not QUITE the way you’ve done it, perhaps with a bit more salt, or milk instead of water.. you’ve added foam to that savory salmon tapioca.. my grapefruits where PINK and organic!
yum
So I make this marmalade, and what I call French Orange marmalade, and Caramelized Meyer Lemon marmalade (okay, maybe that one hasn’t been done before), and today, TODAY, I’m doing some blog surfing and there are many Grapefruit Cranberry marmalades! Not any from 2011 that I came across ( apologies if you made one and I didn’t see it), but they are certainly out there. No matter. I LOVE it. And I love that so many other people have discovered it’s goodness and enjoyed this for years before me. I also LOVE that there is this collective consciousness of knowledge that gets cycled through our brainwaves and we all can *like* the same thing, play with it and present it for others to go “AHA”!
Frosty Cranberries
As I explained, it was a frenzy of jamming and canning, I was bad, I didn’t write the quantities for my recipes down. I’ll have a good go at it for you with this marmalade. Please use Organic citrus fruits, they do not have the awful wax preservative that regular citrus gets covered with. Buying Organic cranberries helps support smaller cranberry farms, nice thing to do.
Pink Grapefruit Cranberry Marmalade
4 lbs organic pink grapefruit, chopped into small pieces (I pulsed pieces in a food processor)
3 cups organic cranberries
3 or 4 cups organic sugar (it’s a taste preference)
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tbs grated fresh ginger
If you’ve read my other jam recipes, you know I prefer to macerate fruit for several hours, even over night (and I admit, sometimes a couple of days). If you can prepare the grapefruit before hand, dump them into your stock pot, pour the sugar over and let it sit in the fridge or a cool place. When ready, place pot over medium heat, add cranberries, juice and ginger (and more sugar if you feel like) Stir frequently, until the marmalade thickens considerably, about 30 minutes, be careful not to let it burn. Check for set using a thermometer (near 225*) or a freezer test (a little dollop on a frozen plate).
Ladle into prepared jars, tap them on the counter to dispel air bubbles, leaving a 1/4 inch head space. Wipe rims of jars, put on prepared lids and rings and process for 10 minutes in prepared canner. Turn heat off, leave lid on and let rest 5 minutes more, this help assure a good seal.
Place jars on a dishtowel and leave undisturbed for 12-24 hours. Then test for seal, remove rings and wipe jars down. Store in a cool, dry place for up to a year.
January 5, 2012 at 12:35 am
As Always another brilliant post. Thanks for sharing your talents. You make us all envious.
Looks delicious and the writing makes me smile!
January 7, 2012 at 1:17 pm
this sounds wonderful! when you say chop the grapefruit, do you just process the whole fruit? usually i cut off the peel, remove all the pith, then chop the fruit. does the long maceration eliminate some of the pith’s bitterness? thanks!
January 7, 2012 at 2:44 pm
I removed some of the pith, then got frustrated with it and cut up the grapefruit, placed in FP and pulsed. I found the long macerating time to soften the rind. While I still tasted a little bitterness, after cooking down it was mild.