Meyer Lemon Marmalade
It’s citrus season here in California which means boat loads of Meyer lemons. So many Meyer lemons that my neighbors leave their harvest in a cardboard box outside their house for anyone to take. I’m a forager so of course I took some.
Meyer lemons are different than Eureka lemons. They don’t have that zest that Eureka lemons do. Instead they are floral, sweet, and even a bit savory in my opinion.
Enter Meyer lemon marmalade. Because the skin of the Meyer lemon is so soft, that peel can be incorporated into a marmalade. Along with Meyer lemon juice and whole lemons pieces.
A few notes on this recipe before you begin:
*Try your best to get rid of all the seeds in the lemon - you don’t want those making their way into your marmalade
*You will remove the peel from two lemons. You get to choose how big of chunks of peel you want in your marmalade. Cut them smaller if you want them smaller.
MEYER Lemon Marmalade
You need 6 lemons.
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
Using a vegetable peeler, peel the skin off of 2 of the lemons. Cut into thin strips. Set aside in a small sauce pan.
Using the same two lemons, peel as much of the membrane off as you can and discard. Using a small paring knife, cut each segment out of the lemon so that each of the segments are separated from one another. Remove seeds along the way. Place in a bowl.
Grab 2 more lemons and cut them (peel and all) into 8 to 12 sections. You can do this by cutting the lemon in half then each half in half and so on. Remove seeds as you go. Place the pieces into the bowl with the segmented lemon from step 2.
With your other two lemons, juice them into the bowl with the segments and pieces.
Remember the sauce pan you set aside in step 1 - grab that sauce pan, add some water, and boil those peels for 3 to 5 minutes (this gets rid of the bitterness).
In a large dutch oven or sauce pan add 2 cups of granulated sugar. Add 1 cup of water. Add everything that’s in the bowl from step 4.
Now place the pot on the stove, start slowly at a simmer, stirring as you go so that the sugar dissolves. Once sugar is dissolved, bring to a bowl. To get the marmalade to the right stage of thickness you’re going to want to keep that pot on the edge of boiling for 45 minutes -ish. You want the marmalade to reach a temperature of about 218 degrees F. If you don’t have a thermometer you can use the plate trick. Place a plate in the freezer for 10 minutes. Pull the plate out of the freezer and add a dollop of the marmalade. Let sit for a minute. Is the marmalade running? Or can you put your finger in it and drag it down so that it mostly stays together? If it stays together - you’re done!
Cool and spoon into jars. Keep in fridge.
