i'm back, with more sweet stuff, which is no surprise given it was my gateway into cooking. in halls of residence i used to spend literally every wednesday baking something from nigella lawson's how to be a domestic goddess in preparation for an evening of literary discussion, darjeeling, and cake with my friend tallie. my flatmate's would get the leftovers, and given that wednesday was the day a lot of people's parents visited, i got the reputation of being some sort of kitchen saint and role model, when in fact it was usually me getting their kids hammered and into trouble. i do actually miss that structure; the idea of devoting a day to doing something in the kitchen every week for a reason, and i'm one of those annoying bastards who always wants to add something new to their skill set, so i have decided to make mastering preserves my goal for this year.
nobody whatsoever in my family ever made preserves. i come from a family very heavy on divorced females, all of whom grew up in the career-woman-you-can-have-it-all epoch of the twentieth century (i still cringe when my mother brings up how thatcher was a good role model for women), and i think such dedicated kitchen activity as preserving was seen as a backwards step; an affected hark back to the days of good old 2.4 housewifery. which is fair enough, i can see how things might've been for them, and i would never presume to say my take on things is superior. i grew up in what almost feels like another ideological universe, i have been exposed to fluid conceptions of gender that allow me to feel i am not 'betraying the cause' by continuing this strongly-associated-with-the-feminine tradition. i have grown to embrace environmental beliefs that lead me to believe learning such a skill is a practical and valuable use of my time and, eventually, garden produce.
i am completely new to most aspects of preserving; my only previous experience comes from making infused vodkas and gin (i still have some sloes in the freezer from this years sloe gin bottling; there were too many for me to handle at once and i keep forgetting to buy gin, shame on me). so this is my first attempt at preserving anything that has to be sugar set, and i am thoroughly proud of it.
honey and lemon marmalade (adapted from pam corbin's basic marmalade recipe in the river cottage preserves handbook)
makes 5-6 x 450g jars
1kg unwaxed lemons
1750g demerara sugar
250ml honey
scrub the lemons, remove the buttons at the top of the fruit, then cut in half. squeeze out the juice and keep to one side. using a sharp knife, slice the peel, pith and all, into your preferred choice of shred. put the sliced peel in a bowl with the juice and cover with 2.5 litres water. leave to soak overnight or for up to 24 hours.
transfer the whole mixture into a preserving pan, bring to the boil and then simmer slowly, covered, until the peel is tender. this should take approximately 2 hours, by which time the contents of the pan will have reduced by about one third.
stir in the sugar. bring the marmalde to a boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. boil rapidly until setting point is reached, about 20-25 minutes. remove from the heat. leave to cool for 8-10 minutes -a little longer if the peel is very chunky - then stir gently to disperse any scum, pour into warm sterilized jars, and seal immediately. use within 2 years.
5 jars of honey and lemon marmalade. look how dark it is! i was surprised by how dark it was. if you look carefully you will see that one of the jars has 'reserved for ed' written on it. this is because he and i have ridiculously invested arguments about what it is appropriate to put on toast. you would not believe the shit i cop for my preferred poison being marmite. it tastes amazing though, better than any marmalade i've ever had, i might even be tempted to recommend it to people who don't normally 'do' marmalade because the honey adds the kind of sweet richness largely absent from this particular preserve.
as the basic recipe is fairly light on details, i will fill you in. i do not have a preserving pan, i used a four litre pan i usually use for making soup i then live off for a week (something i do way too much of). this led to a few moments that, were i not far too vain, could be described as nail biting, since when bought to boil, the marmalade almost doubles in volume. still, it all came off in the end.
the way i chose to sterilize my jars was to wash them in stupidly hot soapy water (in my job you gain asbestos fingers) and dry them in a hot oven, where i then left them until needed. i sterilized my lids by keeping them in water at a rolling boil on the hob until i needed them.
to test for setting i put a saucer in the fridge before i started; when it came to time to test i dolloped about half a teaspoon of the mixture onto said saucer and gave it a minute before poking it. when it crinkles upon poke, you have your set. it's a bit of a pain in the arse cos you have to take it off the heat everytime you test for setting lest you let it continue to cook and end up with citrussy glue, but it was no big deal lugging that pan around; all the pints i pull have blessed me with some serious guns.
the only problem with my marmalade is that some of the bigger bits of peel floated toward the top of the jars on cooling. reading about this, i discovered there were two reasons why this might be. not letting the sugar fully dissolve before bringing the marmalade to the boil; or not cooling for long enough before jarring. i am inclined to think that given it was only the larger pieces of peel it was probably me not cooling it quite long enough. still, as far as flaws go for a beginner, i'd say that was a fairly minor one, and consequently i am pretty pleased with myself, and already planning next week's preserving project.
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