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3:07 pm
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Fri 9-Sep-11
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Cany anyone recall a recipe for a thrifty marmalade using the leftover squeezed lemons please. I think I saw it on here but maybe not. I have tried Google but not found it yet.
I have a large bag of squeezed lemons in the freezer and also lots of peel from oranges and tangerines which I am hoping to turn into a lightweight marmalade.
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
3:31 pm
Supreme Being
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Sun 30-Jan-11
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Not sure where the recipe is, Maura, but I'm sure Val (Brightspark) does this, and she told me about it before. I can't remember when/where/what though, sorry 
learning to love veg…..except celery :-O
4:06 pm
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Wed 30-Dec-09
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You're right, Sue, yes, I make marmalade from leftover peel.
However, I can't give you actual amounts, it is more a judgement thing!
Tangerine types are particularly flavourful, but most of mine is made from grapefruit/lemon/orange peels.
All peel is prepared into 'marmalade' strips as soon as the fruit is used, and put into the freezer. When I run out of marmalade, or when I have too much peel (!) I make the next batch.
I cook the peel in water for some 3 hours or so (adding more water if needed), until the peel is transparent-ish.
Next is to add orange juice.
(Whenever I cook apples, and in particular, Bramleys, I cook up the peel and cores to make my own pectin. This too is frozen till needed.)
After the orange juice, I add the pectin. Measure the total amount, and add the same amount of granulated sugar (or less if you prefer it not so sweet).
Bring to a rolling boil until ready. I use the saucer method and also by watching it, seeing the change in the boiling.
Hubby remarked this morning on the lovely flavour of the current batch.
Sorry I can't be more specific, though.
4:17 pm
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Fri 9-Sep-11
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Hi Val
Thanks for replying so quickly. I've not done this before so put all my used lemon halves into the freezer as I used them, so they not cut up. I also have a few bits of peel left over from tangerines. Can I use these halves straight from freezer and boil them up - then strain them in a jelly bag (perhaps with a Bramley or two for added pectin) and then use 2 fresh lemons for the 'peel' bits to add to the juice?
I'm after a lemon flavour marmalade rather than orange but could maybe add the small amount of orangey bits of peel to add flavour to the fruit when boiling.
I dont have any home made pectin yet (but will be doing this in future as such a good idea) so will I have to add anything like say, some jam sugar or certo for this batch?
Also I'm not keen on chunky bits in marmalade so could I ue a potato peeler or zester to achieve some fine strips.
Apologies for so many questions, but really appreciate your thoughts on this.
Maura
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
12:13 am
Supreme Being
Wed 30-Dec-09
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Okay, will try again, just written a reply - and posted it - when suddenly "Oops! Internet explorer could not connect with cottagesmallholder.com" Thanks Bill.
Danny & Fiona recommended using granulated sugar only (thanks goes to them) and now that is the only sugar I use.
I don't see why your solution won't work - it's worth a try, if only a small quantity at first. If you do have trouble with achieving a set, you could try using Certo. I have used it in the past.
Your fine strips will still need cooking to make them soft, so perhaps tie them in a muslin bag to be removed before straining the rest, then replacing when you add the sugar to the liquid.
Good luck.
10:00 pm
Supreme Being
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Tue 22-Sep-09
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I make a marmalade where you boil up the fruit and then slice the peel up after the boiling, it's much easier as the peel is lovely and soft, so don't see why you can't just do that Maura with the frozen lemons and peel.
11:28 am
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Fri 9-Sep-11
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Thanks Jan, I am tempted to have a go at the marmalade today and have been pondering which method to go with. I'm hoping I will get enough flavour out of the used lemon halves to make it worthwhile but will also include a couple of unused lemons to help boost it. As the idea is to make good use of all your waste I dont want to cheat but on the other hand I dont want to risk all the sugar and time to make it and end up with a flavourless jelly. I will use the unused lemons to cut the strips off when they are soft.
PECTIN Questions
I have some eating apples in the steamer right now that were very soft. I have cut them up and seperated the cores and they are producing some juice.
So, 2 questions.....will the juice of the eaters be good enough to freeze and use as a 'pectin' addition when I need it in future?
And if so....could I freeze it in plastic ice cube bags so that I can just use as many cubes as I need?
Oh dear...that leads me on to a 3rd question How do you know how much of this nectar to add....or is that a very stupid question. (Dont all shout at once 
)
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
12:05 pm
Supreme Being
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Mon 21-Sep-09
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I think I can answer question 1. Maura 
The best/strongest pectin comes from under-ripe green cooking apples or crab apples. As the apples get riper they contain less pectin. Eating apples contain even less normally , therefore in a soft, over-ripe state, very little. That is why people often make pectin with the small windfall apples in early summer.
"The beautiful is as useful as the useful...perhaps more so."
from Les Miserables
12:18 pm
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Fri 9-Sep-11
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Oh bug*er - trust me to get it wrong. Thanks Hattie, I should have known that, what a twit.
Well it wont go to waste - I'll make something with it
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
4:13 pm
Supreme Being
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Sun 2-Oct-11
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this has been noted for future reference as I like the idea of making my own pectin so that I won't have to buy special sugar. I can get 5kg bags of granulated suger very cheaply here so making the pectin will keep costs down
Trying to enjoy life as it is
5:33 pm
Supreme Being
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Mon 21-Sep-09
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Well I think this link will answer a lot of your questions Maura, I knew I had this site bookmarked but I couldn't find it earlier.
http://www.wildflowers-and-weeds.com/The_Forager/pectin.htm
I particularly like his description of the test for strength of the pectin....LOL I like his down to earth approach to the whole thing......it suits my way of cooking. 
Hope it helps to make you feel more confident to try it next year.
"The beautiful is as useful as the useful...perhaps more so."
from Les Miserables
5:36 pm
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Fri 9-Sep-11
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Thanks Hattie - I'm off to look at link right now 
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
7:54 pm
Supreme Being
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Sun 2-Oct-11
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copied pasted and saved the page with thanks
Trying to enjoy life as it is
10:28 am
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Fri 9-Sep-11
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Me too......although I did only give it a quick scan through and thought hmmm this sounds good but I am going to need to sit and read it through properly. Really interesting to keep learning.
Thanks again
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
1:06 pm
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Fri 9-Sep-11
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Finally finally got round to making my leftover marmalade and I'm absolutely thrilled with the results. I kept it really simple this time as not too sure how it would turn out.
Just added enough water to cover the leftover lemons and added all the bits of orange and satsuma peel I also saved, also a couple of whole lemons that had gone a bit hard but were fine and juicy inside.For the chopped up shreds I used orange peel as wanted a bit of colour and I wrapped these in a square of muslin and dangled them in with other fruit whilst boiling/simmering for about 2 hours. I used a masher to squash fruit up a bit after the first hour when they were all soft. Strained through a jelly bag overnight and I did give the bag a real good squeeze to get all the juice out. I know you shouldn't do this but as there was so much peel in the bag it was trapping the juice from trickling through and I thought if it goes cloudy then I wont do it next time. Maybe worth straining through a sieve first then transferring to jelly bag?
Anyway, I got just over a litre of juice which I added same amount of sugar to and let boil for 15 mins. It set first time which is no doubt due to all the lemon juice. In fact I had to pot it up as quickly as I could as a skin was forming. It tastes beautiful - for our taste anyway. Not too bitter and not too sweet and its a lovely clear jelly so squeezing didn't affect it at all. Have a slight concern about it having lots of air bubbles but could not see how to get rid of so many and have noticed that shop bought marmalade also has air bubbles so maybe it will be ok.
I'm going to try and add 2 photos - I apologise in advance if they are too big but not sure how to resize them 
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
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