Preserves

Tuesday, 11 February 2025 21:05
Written by Madelaine Bullwinkel

2 pounds navel oranges, preferably organic

1 cup sugar

Juice one pound of the oranges. Add water as needed to measure ¾ cup.

Scrub and rinse the remaining pound of fruit. Cut it into one inch pieces and pulse 3 or 4 times in the work bowl of a food processor. Add the juice and run the machine briefly to create a rough fruit mash.

Simmer this mixture over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, stirring regularly, and measure again. The volume will have reduced to half after cooking. Measure and set aside the same volume of sugar.

Set the orange mixture over medium heat in a clean saucepan and add the sugar in ½ cup increments, waiting for the liquid to return to the boil before adding the second half. Once all the sugar is added, cook another 5 minutes. Stirring regularly. The preserve should fall from a metal spoon in a thick stream. A tablespoon of marmalade refrigerated on a small plate will cool to a firm consistency.

Off the heat, pour the marmalade into the measuring cup and hold for 5 minutes, stirring to evenly distribute the fruit pieces throughout the preserve. Pour into clean jars with tightly fitting lids and cool on a rack. Refrigerate between uses.

Instructions for vacuum sealing jars for storage at room temperature are in Artisanal Preserves.

Sunday, 21 January 2024 20:24
Written by Madelaine Bullwinkel

Ingredients for 2 cups

1 pound half ripe strawberries

½ cup water

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Sugar (same volume as cooked strawberries)

Place a small saucer in the freezer compartment.

Rinse berries, trim off the green cap, quarter and collect them in a 4 quart saucepan. Add water to coat the bottom of the pan, cover and bring to a simmer. Uncover and simmer the fruit slowly for 10 minutes.

Pour cooked berries into a 2 cup measure. Set aside the same volume granulated sugar. Return the berries and lemon juice to a clean pan and return the mixture to a boil. Add the sugar ½ cup at a time, allowing the fruit to return to the boil before adding more. When all the sugar has been added, start testing for the jell. First check to see that the liquid coats the back of a metal spoon and drips slowly from it. Off the heat add a small amount of liquid onto the chilled plate and return to the freezer. Check in a minute or two to see if the firm juices wrinkle when the edge is pressed. Finally, return the pot to the heat and test for 220 degrees reading with an instant read thermometer.

Pour the hot liquid into the 2 cup measure. Skim off any remaining foam. Stir occasionally for 5 minutes to allow the preserve to begin jelling. When the berry pieces look evenly suspended in the jell, pour the preserves into clean jars to within ¼" of the lip. Check to see the jar lip is clean before attaching a new heat-sealing gasket and screwing on a cap. To vacuum seal, submerge the filled jars by 1” in boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove, allow to cool before tightening the screw on cap. Store in a dark, cool place. Consume within 6 months for best flavor.

Monday, 22 February 2021 18:58
Written by Madelaine Bullwinkel

Ingredients for 4 cups marmalade:

1 large red bell pepper

1 navel orange

1 lemon

Water

4 cups sugar

Optional seasoning: 3 slices fresh ginger

Night Before

Wash off and dry the pepper. Holding it upright by the stem, cut the sides from the fruit, leaving behind the core of seeds and membrane. Thinly slice these “side” pieces into thin julienne strips.

Scrub, rinse, and dry the orange and lemon. Cut the orange into 8 pieces, and quarter the lemon. Finely chop the citrus by hand or with repeated pulses in the work bowl of your food processor.

Measure the combined pepper slices and orange-lemon mixture. Pour this base, an equal volume of water, and the optional ginger slices into a heavy, non-reactive 5-quart pan. Cover and bring to a boil. Uncover and simmer for 15 minutes. Let mixture cool to room temperature, cover, and let sit overnight.

Next Day

Bring marmalade base to a boil and reduce volume to 4 cups. Stir in the sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, returning the pan to a boil each time before adding more sugar. Continue to boil until it reaches the jell point, which is 8 degrees above the boiling temperature measured on your thermometer. This will take 10 - 12 minutes. Maintain a boil for a full minute after reaching the jell point.

Pour the marmalade into a 2-quart measure and let it sit for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the ginger pieces (if used), and stir down the pepper pieces. Pour the marmalade into hot, sterilized jelly jars to within 1/4 inch of the rims. Wipe the rims clean, attach new lids, and screw caps on tightly. Invert jars briefly to vacuum seal or process in a boiling water bath, submerged by 1 inch, for 10 minutes.

Thursday, 04 November 2021 16:27
Written by Madelaine Bullwinkel

YIELD: 3 1/2 CUPS

2 pounds green tomatoes

2 lemons

1 tart apple

1/2 cup water

1 4-inch cinnamon stick

1 cup sugar

Scrub and rinse all of the fruits. Remove the stem ends of the tomatoes and dice them by hand or chop them two at a time, quartered, in a food processor fitted with a steel blade, using rapid pulsing action. Remove the zest from the lemons with a zester. Cut off and discard the inner white peel. Halve the lemons and thinly slice, removing seeds. Peel, quarter, core, and dice the apple.

Combine the tomatoes, lemon zest, lemon slices, and apple pieces with the water and cinnamon stick in a heavy, non-reactive 4-quart pan. Cover the pan and bring liquid to a boil. Uncover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add sugar 1/2 cup at a time, allowing the jam to return to the simmer between additions. Cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. The temperature will rise to 210°F.

Off heat, remove the cinnamon stick. Pour the jam into hot, sterilized jars to within 1/4 inch of lips. Wipe rims clean, attach new lids, and screw the caps on tightly. Invert the jars briefly for a quick vacuum seal, or process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath, submerged by 1 inch.

Friday, 20 December 2019 23:29
Written by Madelaine Bullwinkel

Ingredients for 3 cups:

1 large navel orange, organic preferred

1 stick cinnamon

1 1/3 cups fresh cranberries

3 cups sugar

Day #1: Rinse and scrub the orange. Quarter and cut into into very thin slices. Combine the slices with two cups cool water and a cinnamon stick in a heavy 4 qt. saucepan. Slowly simmer the oranges, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Take off the heat, cover the pan and leave it overnight.

Day #2. Jars: Boil as many preserving jars as needed to hold three cups marmalade in a pot with a slotted insert covered with 1" water for 15 minutes. (A pasta pot is ideal, otherwise submerge a folded towel at the bottom of a large pot to prevent the jars from bouncing on the bottom during the boil.) Remove jars and cool on a rack. Dip the lids to cover the jars (but not the screw caps) in the boiling water as well as a preserving funnel. Let them cool on the rack.

Day #2. Marmalade: Rinse and pick over as many cranberries as will fill a 1 1/3 cup dry measure. Add these to the orange mixture, heat to a simmer and cook, partially covered, for 10 minutes. Pour out and measure this fruit solution and add enough water to measure 3 cups. Return the fruits and liquids to a clean pot and bring to a boil. Measure out 3 cups of sugar and add it, 1/2 cup at a time, to the fruit mixture. Wait for the fruit preserve to return to the boil before adding more. Continue boiling until until the marmalade sheets (forms a coating) on a metal spoon and becomes firm before it can drip off the spoon. The marmalade is gelled when an intstant read thermometer reaches 220 degrees F.

Off the heat, pour the marmalade into a large measuring cup or bowl and let it sit for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to redistribute the fuit pieces evenly in the gell. Ladle the marmalade through the funnel into the jars within 1/4" of the rim. Wipe the edge of the rim with a towel dipped in hot water if there is any sign of a drip. Lay on a sterilized lid, screw on the cap and invert the jar for 15 seconds. Return upright to the rack to cool.

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