Hello! Happy Wednesday, December 22nd, the eve eve eve of Christmas. I am so stoked about today’s recipes, plural! I have two recipes for you today, our last recipes of 2021, and together they are the perfect project to do over the holiday. First, we are going to make Grapefruit Vanilla Rose Marmalade then we are going to use the marmalade to make Pistachio & Grapefruit Linzer Cookies. The Linzer cookies are very straightforward and I have a few tips to make them extra easy. So the majority of today’s newsletter will be on marmalade and you’ll find both recipes at the bottom. Let’s jump in!
Marmalade 101
Marmalade is a fruit preserve made from citrus fruits. The flesh, juice, and peel get simmered with water and sugar until soft, thick, and syrupy. Pectin can be used as a thickening agent but is not necessarily needed because the peels have plenty of pectin already.
Marmalade is similar to jam except jams are made of pureed or mashed fruits. The citrus in marmalade is typically sliced which makes the end product a little chunkier. Marmalade is also transparent, unlike jams.
We are using the whole citrus fruit. There will be slightly bitter notes as well as acidity from the juice and of course sweetness from the sugar. Marmalade packs more of a punch than jellies or jams which can be kind of one-note.
The process to make marmalade takes some time, about 2.5-3 hours, but is incredibly easy and hands-off. We are going to put ingredients in a pot and simmer, simmer, and simmer some more. That’s it!
Start with grapefruit…
Because we spray produce in this country with nasty chemicals, I want to stress how important it is to use organic grapefruits. The best kind to use would be some from a citrus tree in your neighborhood but if you will be buying some from the store, always grab organic. You need 2 pounds of grapefruit to start. This is about 2-4 depending on the size and I recommend having an extra grapefruit on hand.
Next, you need to wash them well. We typically discard the peel when we eat citrus but because we are going to eat the peel, scrub it well. Dry them off and then use your knife to remove the peels. Check out last week’s newsletter for a visual on how to do this. Then slice the peel from 1 grapefruit. These slices need to be thin, about 1/8 of an inch. If they are thicker they won’t soften all the way or it will take significantly longer to cook them and soften fully. The final product will also have thick pieces in it. Thin is a little more enjoyable. So take your time, use an extra sharp knife, and carefully cut super-thin strips until you have 1 cup/85 grams of slices. Compost the peel from the other grapefruits.
Toss those strips into a large pot and move on to the flesh. When you peel your grapefruits with your knife, do a second round and get every last speck of pith off. With my first batch, I was lazy about this and found they left tough pieces in the marmalade.