Week 25

Remember those grapefruit I was talking about?  I was bummed because they weren't pink grapefruit, just regular grapefruit. I'm not complaining because you see when I juiced them they turned pink.

No, that is not a tube of neon pink food coloring you see on the juicer. Anyway, I juiced 5 large grapefruit and used this recipe:

Pink Grapefruit Marmalade
3 large or 4 small pink grapefruit
2 lemons
3 cups water
3 1/2 cups sugar

Zest the grapefruits and lemons. Cut the grapefruits and lemons in half, and juice them.

Save the lemon peels for later.

Place the grapefruit peel and water in a preserving pan; bring to a full boil. Reduce heat to bring mixture down to a gentle boil. Cover pan, and boil for 20 minutes.

Peels and water.

Add the grapefruit and lemon juices, lemon peels to the pan. Bring mixture to a full boil, then reduce heat and cover. Boil gently for 10 minutes. Stir once or twice during this 10 minutes

Remove lemon peels from pan. Add sugar, stir until dissolved. Bring to full boil, and boil hard, uncovered, until marmalade will gel, about 30 minutes. Keep an eye on this and stir frequently, so as not to burn.

On the way to a rolling boil.

Let marmalade sit for 5-10 minutes, then stir to distribute peel evenly. Ladle into jars, top with caps and rings, and process in a boiling water bath.

Notes: I used 5 large grapefruit and no lemons.  I did however use bottled lemon juice.  I added 3 cups of sugar, instead of 3 1/2.  I forgot to let the marmalade sit before bottling, so I've turned the bottles a couple of times once I heard the 'pock' sound of the lids sealing. 

This recipe made (4) 1/2 pints.  I tried some of the marmalade that was left in the pan.  Since you boil it down without adding pectin, it had an intense flavor.  The color is almost a true apricot color.  It looks attractive and has a sweet-tart flavor. If you give this as a gift, be mindful that people taking certain medications cannot eat grapefruit.