How to make marmalade

[SoCalZone10]

Yeah, that’s exactly what I thought, ridiculous. I wasted my time too.

 

[karadekoolaid]

I did overnight soaking, it didn’t help. Don’t believe the hype.

I don't know the difference in cooking orange, lemon or grapefruit marmalade, because I've only ever done orange.
I just looked at my recipe and it said: "4 whole lemons, plus oranges to make the weight up to 2 kgs (4.4 lbs). Bring to a boil and boil for at least 2 hours, until the skin is really soft. Allow to cool for 24 hours".
Basically what that does is release the natural pectin in the fruit, which is then reinforced with the pips/white pith the following day.
Yep, it's a pain.

 

[SoCalZone10]

I don't know the difference in cooking orange, lemon or grapefruit marmalade, because I've only ever done orange.
I just looked at my recipe and it said: "4 whole lemons, plus oranges to make the weight up to 2 kgs (4.4 lbs). Bring to a boil and boil for at least 2 hours, until the skin is really soft. Allow to cool for 24 hours".
Basically what that does is release the natural pectin in the fruit, which is then reinforced with the pips/white pith the following day.
Yep, it's a pain.

I boiled more than 2 hours, the skin was really soft, but the following day they didn’t jell. So I had to start over again.
My husband said it’s not as thick as the marmalade he bought from the store in England.

 

[karadekoolaid]

My husband said it’s not as thick as the marmalade he bought from the store in England.

I've never been able to make orange marmalade like Robertson's, Wilkin's or Keiller's. I'm told that the secret is to use bitter, Seville oranges, which are more difficult to find here than an honest politician. Plus, of course, they've been making hundreds of tons for over 100 years. As long as mine jells (and I use exactly the same method as you, from what I can see), that'll have to do.

 

[kaneohegirlinaz]

So, I waited overnight for the Marmalade to set, NOPE!
I looked up if I could "reboil" jam made with Stevia, NOPE!
So down the drain it went!
I'll start again in a few days and throw the dice.

My recipe is to soak the cut up whole fruit along the pips in cheesecloth for 24.
Next day, bring to a boil, reduse to a simmer, simmer for 40 minutes until the jam reaches 218° ... I can't get the jam that hot ... we're mile high!
So what I "giggled" is really boil to 211°, (where I went way off the rails) in a small pot filled with 3/4 cup of water, dissolve the powdered pectin and cook for 1 minute while constantly stirring and THEN add that to the fruit...

I'll try it again!
I've done this before, I know it works, but we were at 3800 feet above sea level at the time ...

 

[Z-Cook]

Here's how you make Seville Orange marmalade the long way. Works for grapefruit, lemons and Meyer lemons.[edited ro add] Dan Lepard's reliable and classic version.

Medium-cut Seville orange marmalade recipe

eta also
Marmalade: When Oranges Are The Only Fruit…. making a small batch of Seville orange marmalade – Dan Lepard

If you want the proper marmalade set with the right jel thickness there are no short cuts nor will reducing the sugar give you the best results.

I make a fair amount of marmalade several times a year. I use red grapefruit when I can't get Sevilles and add the innards (the squeezed out segment walls that you scrape from the peel for pectin) and juice of an extra lemon to the first step. I use Meyer lemons too.

I do the overnight bit after I've boiled the skins and innards.

Its all about what goes on in the chemistry. Sugar to liquid to starting weight of fruit (gives you your pectin concentration) and getting the final boil to the correct temperature to get a set. The plate test really helps but reaching the right gel temperature is really what will get you results.

 

[Z-Cook]

I looked up if I could "reboil" jam made with Stevia, NOPE!

There's your reason.

Edited to add
You can get temp up to 105C/220F - just have to keep boiling and watch carefully

 

[SoCalZone10]

All cooking is chemistry, not sure if one keeps saying over and over again will make any difference.

 

[karadekoolaid]

I looked up if I could "reboil" jam made with Stevia, NOPE!

There, I believe, is the problem.Stevia is not sugar, and marmalade needs sugar. It's not only the sweetness, it's also the volume of sugar which helps the marmalade set.
When I ran my conserves company, I had a visit from the people who make Splenda.They asked me to test drive (if that's the right word!) some jam, marmalade, chutney recipes with splenda. Splenda (which is sucralose) is 600 times sweeter than sugar; 1 tsp (3 gms) of sucralose = 1.8 kgs (or 3.93 lbs ) sugar. Stevia is 2-300 times sweeter than sugar.
Anyway - first thing I did was to taste raw sucralose/splenda. Just a tiny bit. It was so damn sweet, I could still taste it 30 minutes later. I just had to walk down the road and buy some beer to take the taste away. If I made a comparison with one of my favourite food items, a Carolina Reaper chile is about 600 times stronger than a jalapeño.
The results of the experiment were dire, except for the mango chutney. The jams and marmalades tasted like fruit compote; baby food, and the texture was just all wrong. Far too liquid.
If you want to cut down on the sugar, then use fructose, which is twice as sweet as sugar. you can use half the amount, and that works.
I actually called a medical friend of mine who specialises in diabetes, and he said, yep, fructose is better than sugar. It cuts the risk by half...

 

[karadekoolaid]

All cooking is chemistry, not sure if one keeps saying over and over again will make any difference.

Well I'd agree, but I'd say baking is far more chemistry than cooking other stuff. Adding an extra tsp of cumin to a chutney definitely changes the final result - but don't ask me to come up with the formula and the precise chemical reactions.
My mum's recipes for jam ( and I imagine that came from WWII) all involved 1lb/1kg fruit to 1lb/1 kg sugar. Beet sugar, I might add, rather than cane sugar, which is sweeter. I modified that to 80% sugar and the jams still came out fine. I think I posted a jam recipe somewhere and Morning Glory pointed out that Tiptree products only used 65%. I really don't understand the chemistry behind it; I think it comes down to what tastes good to you.

 

[Barriehie]

There, I believe, is the problem.Stevia is not sugar, and marmalade needs sugar. It's not only the sweetness, it's also the volume of sugar which helps the marmalade set.
When I ran my conserves company, I had a visit from the people who make Splenda.They asked me to test drive (if that's the right word!) some jam, marmalade, chutney recipes with splenda. Splenda (which is sucralose) is 600 times sweeter than sugar; 1 tsp (3 gms) of sucralose = 1.8 kgs (or 3.93 lbs ) sugar. Stevia is 2-300 times sweeter than sugar.
Anyway - first thing I did was to taste raw sucralose/splenda. Just a tiny bit. It was so damn sweet, I could still taste it 30 minutes later. I just had to walk down the road and buy some beer to take the taste away. If I made a comparison with one of my favourite food items, a Carolina Reaper chile is about 600 times stronger than a jalapeño.
The results of the experiment were dire, except for the mango chutney. The jams and marmalades tasted like fruit compote; baby food, and the texture was just all wrong. Far too liquid.
If you want to cut down on the sugar, then use fructose, which is twice as sweet as sugar. you can use half the amount, and that works.
I actually called a medical friend of mine who specialises in diabetes, and he said, yep, fructose is better than sugar. It cuts the risk by half...

Spot on!

 

[Barriehie]

All cooking is chemistry, not sure if one keeps saying over and over again will make any difference.

Yes!!! Ninth grade biology/chemistry class when we learned all about cooked egg whites being white...

 

[Z-Cook]

I just had to walk down the road and buy some beer to take the taste away.

That bad!

Thing about marmalade and jellies is that the sugar concentration/temp is really crucial to the thickness. I find with chutneys and very fruity jams you can get away more with boiling down to thicken.

 

[Barriehie]

That whole thing with sugar is how heating it changes the "solid" state when it cools. Sugar doesn't melt at temperatures, it's constantly, on a molecular level changing, that's how we can make taffy or lollipops and how it directly affects the "viscosity" of your finished product.

 

[kaneohegirlinaz]

I've made Meyer Lemon Marmalade with Splenda before and it came out just fine, but again, that was at a much lower elevation than here in Cowboyville Arizona.
My next go will be with real cane sugar, not Stevia.
This is for my Mother, who claims to have to NOT eat sugar, yeah right mom, did you see that big box of See's Chocolates that my friends gave her? She wolfed that down nothing flat!!!