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This past year I have made, Seville orange marmalade, Persian lime marmalade, and Meyer lemon marmalade. Though I love them all, my favorite is the Meyer lemon marmalade. I think it is because it is just the right ration of tart to sweet. This recipe like many marmalade recipes, has to sit overnight in a bowl. No cooking on the first day, just slicing and adding water. The second day you cook it and add the sugar. Really though it an easy process and splitting it up in two days makes it less time consuming. Start it on Friday afternoon or Saturday morning and then have some marmalade to eat for Sunday brunch.

Recently I read that professional kitchens have a love hate relationship with Meyer lemons. The article went on to state that it is very time consuming deseeding Meyer lemons specifically because not only are there lots of seeds, but it is also difficult to keep the slices from looking mangled or squished while taking the seeds out. For those in professional kitchens, help is on the way because someone has hybridized a seedless Meyer lemon. I haven’t seen any at the grocery store or farmer’s markets yet, but I am guessing we will soon.

The reason I am talking about Meyer lemon seeds is we use the seeds in the following recipe. Lemon seeds have pectin in them which is helpful to jell the marmalade. The good news for you though is it doesn’t matter if you mangle or squish the slices because you’re cooking this fruit, AND I used a trick I learned from David Lebovitz. In his recipe for Seville Orange Marmalade in his book Ready for Dessert, he cuts the fruit in half and squeezes the juice and seeds out into a large strainer set over a bowl. Then adds the juice to a large bowl along with the lemon slices and the seeds that have been wrapped in a cheesecloth pouch. Huge time saver— Now it is time to put on your favorite podcast and get juicing.

Ingredients:

• 8 Meyer lemons about 1 ½ lbs.

• 4 cups each water and granulated sugar

• Cheesecloth.

Directions:

Cut off the ends of your lemons, half them lengthwise and squeeze seeds and juice over a strainer set atop a medium sized bowl. Add the juice to a large bowl. Gather up all the seeds from the strainer onto your cheesecloth and tie the ends together into a kind of pouch shape (I use a triple layer of cheesecloth, so the seeds don’t slip out) and add it to the large bowl. Now cut the lemon slices in half lengthwise again so they are in quarters and thinly slice them. Place the lemon slices in the bowl with juice, the cheesecloth pouch, and any accumulating juices from your cutting board. Add the water and cover with a plate or tea towel and let sit over-night.

The next day pour the contents of the large bowl into a non-reactive pan (enamel works here) and cook over medium low heat, you want a very slight bubbling for 30 minutes. You don’t want to let the juices to bubble away so if it is cooking to fast turn it down. Add the sugar stirring to combine and cook about another 30 minutes, keep your eye on it and stir so that it doesn’t burn on the bottom. If it starts to stick, lower the heat. The best way to test that your marmalade done is to use the cold plate wrinkle method. Put a small clean plate saucer in your freezer when you add the sugar. When the sugared marmalade has cooked for about 20 minutes, spoon a tablespoon or two onto the saucer make sure you have mostly juice and not rind. Put the plate back in the freezer for about two minutes. Test the marmalade by dragging your finger through it. It should wrinkle and hold that wrinkle. Discard the cheesecloth.

You can now continue with one of the two storing methods:

1. If you want to give a jar to a friend or store a couple jars for much later use, pour the hot marmalade into sterilized canning jars within 1/4” of the top. Wipe clean with a wet paper towel and seal. I don’t have a special water bath rack for my jars to sit on nor a special pan for that rack. I just use a large pan that can hold my jars and cover them by at least 1 inch of water. I bring the pot to a low boil and then using tongs place the jars into the pan. Cover and bring to a medium boil and continue boiling for 10 minutes. Using your tongs again, lift the jars carefully out of the pan and place them on a tea towel. As they cool you will hear them pop as the jars successfully seal.

2. You can put your marmalade in a couple of large jars in the back of the fridge. It will keep for about 6 months