Frugal Marmalade

I've always been a real fan of marmalade. You can make it from fresh citrus fruits, and I've also made marmalade from citrus fruit that's gone past its best. I recently read online that you can make marmalade just out of leftover citrus peel, which really appealed to me in terms of economy and minimising food waste. But is it any good?

I started saving my citrus peels. Mostly from lemons and a couple of limes that had been juiced and would have gone into the compost bin, but also peel from a couple of clementines and the peels of a couple of lemons that had been juiced and zested. This was over the course of a few weeks, and the peels got shredded and added to a container in the freezer. Eventually I decided I had enough to make some marmalade, and that making marmalade might get rid of the burnt smell in the kitchen from having accidentally cremated a couple of naan breads in the oven the day before.

I softened the peels by covering them with water and pressure cooking them for 20 minutes. This was the first time I had used a pressure cooker for this; previously I simmered them for about an hour, but it turns out pressure cooking is not just quicker, but far more effective at softening the peels.

I then tipped the peels and cooking water into a large stainless steel pan. I worried about the lack of juice with all that peel, so I added about 60ml of bottled lemon juice. I then added quite a bit of sugar until it tasted about right. I can't tell you how much because I didn't weigh it.

I then turned the heat on and brought the mixture to a rolling boil until it reached 105°C. This stage seemed to take a long time, but it did give me time to sterilise my jam jars and lids. Jam making was always a bit hit and miss for me until I got a cooking thermometer, which I highly recommend for jam making if you want to avoid runny jam.

I was really pleased with my frugal marmalade, it definitely passes the taste test, it's pleasantly bitter and has plenty of peel shreds. I'll definitely be making it again, and have already starting saving more peels!

Notes

1. I sterilise my jam jars by putting about 1cm of water in each jar and putting all the jars in the microwave on high for about 8 mins. (You'll need oven gloves to get them out!). Tip out the hot water and let the heat of the jars dry them off. Sterilise the lids by boiling in a pan for about 5 mins.

2. I don't know if adding bottled lemon juice was really necessary, and I'll experiment in future with adding orange juice or citric acid, or even just using peels only.