The marmalade workshop on March 23rd was a success!
Everyone who attended brought an empty jar and went home with a full one. We made a beautiful blood orange marmalade. Attendees learned the process of marmalade making from start to finish, including sterilizing and processing jars, preparing fruits, quantities and choices of sugar, cooking time, testing for doneness and canning and sealing jars.
This was a hands-on experience. Participants learned what equipment and materials are needed, how to adapt common kitchen equipment for preparation of any kind of marmalade. We also covered how to cut and cook the fruit, how much sugar to add and how to tell when the marmalade is ready to jar. Then, everyone filled and capped a jar.
While the marmalade was cooking, we had a marmalade tasting. We opened jars of lime, lemon, Meyer lemon, three fruit, sour orange, pink grapefruit and white grapefruit marmalades. Textures and flavors were compared and discussed to gain an understanding of the differences in fruits and cooking times, which fruits need extra cooking to reduce bitterness and the effect on flavor of cooking time and stiffness of the finished product.
At the end of the day, when all the jars were processed and sealed, everyone took home their jar of blood orange marmalade and enough fruit to make at least one more batch of marmalade. Three recipes were shared and are available on request. Everyone who attended is encouraged to send notes about your experience and photos of your marmalade for posting.
