The Making of Lemon Ginger Marmalade

This past week was an opportunity to use the many lemons harvested to make a batch of marmalade. This time we decided on a ginger variant.

The first step is to wash the lemons in cold or lukewarm water. The lemons are peeled, and the peels are cut into small slices.

The lemons are cut in half and juiced. Filtering seeds. You don’t want any seeds in the marmalade. Following the juicing the remainder is cooked to create pectin (natural preserve), used later in the process.

The sliced peels, lemon juice, sugar, and water were added to the pot and cooking begins.

The mixture is brought to a boil and continues to simmer for approximately 90 minutes. The ginger is added once the mixture has been simmering for 30 minutes.

To test the mixture for desired consistency, a saucer is placed in a freezer until cold. A spoonful of the mixture is placed on the cold saucer. If it is too runny, continue cooking. When the consistency desired is obtained, stop cooking and begin jarring.

Before we can jar the marmalade we must sanitize the jars. The jars are filled using a small funnel. The jars are sealed by placing them in boiling water for 15 minutes.

The marmalade is available for purchase in the store. This batch consists of 48 jars made from approximately 192 lemons.