January Can Jam: Honey Lemon Marmalade

This is a quickie version of a post I hope to update properly tomorrow.

The Can Jam has begun! Short version: Can a monthly ingredient, from now until December. Long version: here at Tigress in a Jam.

I made Buckwheat Honey & Lemon Marmalade adapted from Food In Jars, and combined with the methodology in the Joy of Cooking.

Okay, so I didn’t read the direction exactly right, but things still set up beautifully, so I think it’s a-okay!

 Honey-Lemon Marmalade
9 organic lemons
1 cup buckwheat honey
2.5 cups white sugar
1 package no sugar needed fruit pectin
1.5 cup water

1. Put lemons in freezer for 5 to 10 minutes prior to slicing with a sharp knife.
2. For each lemon: cut off just enough of each end to reach the flesh of the fruit. Halve length-wise. Slice into strips about 5-7 mm wide: you will have a bunch of semi-circle shapes. Chop the strips into small square-ish chunks of peel+flesh, place into medium-sized bowl and repeat with the rest of the lemons. Remove seeds as necessary and reserve.
3. Add enough water to lemon bowl to cover them. Pay attention to how much water you add. I added about ¾ cup, so added another ¾ cup during cooking. Cover and place in fridge for 6 hours or overnight to soften the peel.
4. Next day: simmer the fruit in a medium saucepan with the rest of the water until the peel is tender and can be broken with a wooden spoon against the side of the pot.
5. When peel is tender, add the honey and 1.5 cups of the sugar. Wrap reserved lemon seeds in cheesecloth and toss it in the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. *Once sugar and honey are both incorporated, taste your marmalade to see if it is sweet enough. Add sugar until it makes you smile..
6. Add pectin and let boil gently for 5 minutes.
7. Remove from heat and fill sterilized jars. Process for 10 minutes at sea level (I did 20 minutes here in Calgary at 3300 ft).
8. Remove from canner and let sit overnight to allow pectin to fully activate.

This made about 2 pints.

Marmalade and Hoar Frost

I don't even know if I've ever had marmalade before this. Maybe only from a little half-ounce packet at Nellie's (ugh). And even though it turned out firmer than what would be optimal, it is quite delicious, and a good balance between bitter and sweet.

My in-use jar of marmalade.

Can-o-rama

Our hot pepper jelly.

Cooking the relish.

Oh dear am I ever getting behind!
I've spent the past week or so canning with my mum, which has taken most of my experimental cooking energy. We canned peaches, tomatoes, pickles and peppers and made blueberry & peach jam, hot pepper relish, pepper jelly and ketchup. My kitchen smells faintly of vinegar still.

This morning I made some heart-shaped dill buttermilk biscuits. I overcooked them a bit so they're not as soft as they could be, but still delightful! I used the recipe from the Joy of Cooking (75th Anniversary edition). My mum has had the original cookbook as long as I've been around and it's something I've sort of always considered a standard in our kitchen. I just have it out from the library right now, but I think I will have to put it on my birthday list.

Other projects... Last night I tried to make that potato-veggie pâté again, but this time was almost total failure. The texture was all wrong, as I boiled the potatoes to mashable softness before shredding them so it ended up baking like mashed potatoes. And the peppers I added were sweeter than they were hot so that further skewed the flavour. I'm not too happy with it. Next time I will shred the potatoes while raw and see what I can do from there.

I'm off to work now, here's hoping I can put together a few blog postings before school gets back in.