This recipe has two time consuming steps, citrus processing and water bath canning (in jam jars), but it is so delicious. Also the canning is optional if you plan to refrigerate the jam and eat it in...before it gets weird. Jam will usually let you know if it is rotting and it tends to have enough acid to stay ok for a long time but I like to eat open jars in a week or two. Last year I made two double-batches to give jars to family and friends, inexpensive and fun for me and a couple people asked for the recipe. It is a really beautiful dark red preserve, and the flavors are really bright. The recipe was originally in Cooking Light November 2007, but I swapped oranges for grapefruits and added some details to the instructions. Actually last year I made one batch with grapefruits and one with oranges, I'm not sure which one was better. Lemons or limes...I dunno, they would need a lot more sugar. Too much acid without sugar can stop the gelling process. Here is what Cooking Light said about Cranberry Orange Marmalade:
Make the most of abundant seasonal oranges and cranberries with this bright preserve. Serve with biscuits or toast for breakfast, or pair it with crackers, assorted cheeses, and nuts for a cheese platter. The sweet-sour marmalade pleasantly partners with pungent-flavored cheese, such as gorgonzola.
Cranberry Grapefruit Marmalade
Ingredients:
- 3 1/2 pounds of grapefruit
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 3 cups sugar, divided into 1c and 2c
- 12oz of fresh cranberries (this is a standard package size in many places. frozen is fine too but will need to cook longer,, or let them thaw while you are doing the citrus)
Preparation:
- If you plan to can these then prepare the canning stuff before you start the jam. You won't have time to go buy/borrow/steal that one missing thing once the jam is cooking, and let me tell you, you want to have the jar grabber and the wide funnel. Here are lots of details about home hot water bath canning: http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/uga/uga_jams_jellies.pdf
- prepare grapefruit rind:
- wash fruit thoroughly with some produce soap, rinse really well, smell to make sure they don't smell like soap.
- remove big thin strips of rind using a vegetable peeler. Put them white side up on a cutting board
- use a sharp knife almost horizontal to cut off all of the white part while saving all of the outer rind/zest.
- cut the pith-free rind pieces into about 7mm x 6cm strips, or whatever size you like, they will be this size in the finished product.
- peel the citrus, separate them into sections, and remove the tough fibrous layer from around each section of delicious fruit.
- Combine the peeled citrus, the rind strips, 1 1/2 cups water and 1 cup sugar in your big-enough-for-everything pot. bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 min, stirring occasionally
- Add remaining 2 cups sugar and all of the cranberries to the pan. Simmer for 1 hr and 30 min (whoa) or until thick, stirring occasionally
- Either can it hot, or do not can it and remove from heat, cover, cool, and transfer to your refrigerated storage.
And that's it. This jam is not too difficult but is really good, the zest pieces and flavor mix identify it as special occasion level fancy, and you can make that flavor profile more complex by mixing up different citrus combinations and/or adding some herb or spice, although I haven't tried that so don't have anything useful to comment.
Have fun friendly weirdos!
