RUBY GRAPEFRUIT MARMALADE
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
A lovely ruby-colored, soft-set marmalade, which makes an excellent gift
Author:
Recipe type: canning/jam/marmalade
Yield: variable
What You Need
  • ** 3 or 4 saucers or small plates
  • 8 large ruby grapefruit
  • Sugar - see instructions for quantity
  • Juice of 2 lemons
How You Make It
  1. First of all place 3 or 4 small saucers or plates into the freezer - you will use these later to check for the set of the marmalade.
  2. Fill a large canning pan with water and bring to a boil. ***
  3. In warm, soapy water wash your jam jars/mason jars and rinse. Place in the pan and boil the jars for about 10 minutes. Add the lids for the last 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the jars in the water until just before you are ready to fill them with the marmalade.
  4. Using a citrus reamer, or vegetable peeler/paring knife, cut the peel away from the pith. Try and get as little pith as possible. A reamer works really well for this.
  5. Put the peel into a small saucepan with about 2 cups of water, and the bicarbonate of soda.
  6. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 15 minutes.
  7. While the peel is simmering, cut all the pith away from the fruit.
  8. When the peel is cooked, drain and cool.
  9. Chop up the peel into small slivers if desired, or add the peel into the food processor and pulse the contents 5 or 6 times. Pulse to desired size. I prefer mine in quite small pieces.
  10. Empty the peel into a measuring jug.
  11. Put the pieces of fruit, plus all its juice into the food processor, picking out any pips as you go. Fill the food processor no more than ½ full. You may need to do several batches.
  12. Pour the contents into the jug containing the pith, to measure the volume.
  13. Put the fruit mixture into a large, heavy-bottomed pan, and continue pulsing the fruit, measuring the amount and adding it to the pot. Be sure to keep track of how much fruit and peel you have over all.
  14. Now add the same volume of granulated sugar, minus 1 cup, to the pot. (I had approximately 9 cups of fruit, so I added 8 cups sugar).
  15. Stir in the lemon juice, and bring the mixture to a rolling boil.
  16. Turn down the heat so that the mixture is still boiling, but no longer rising in the pan.
  17. Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so to check it is not sticking on the bottom.
  18. After 15 minutes, remove from the heat and take out one of your saucers from the freezer.
  19. Add a small spoonful of marmalade to the plate and return to the freezer for 2 minutes.
  20. Check the set by pushing your finger into the edge of the marmalade. If the mixture wrinkles, then it is ready. If it is still runny, return to the heat for 5 minutes more.
  21. Remove from the heat and re-check the set as before - remembering to remove the pan from the heat while you check the set.
  22. You may need to do this several times. (Depending on how much juice versus fruit you had).
  23. Once the mixture wrinkles on the plate, let the mixture stand in the pan for 5 minutes. This will ensure the peel bits don't sink to the bottom of your jars.
  24. Take your jars out of the hot water and dry with a clean cloth/paper towel.
  25. Using a jam funnel, fill the jars to about ¼" from the top.
  26. Once you've filled each jar, run a knife down the jar against one edge until it touches the bottom. Pull the marmalade gently towards the center of the jar, then remove the knife. This will ensure there are no air bubbles in the marmalade.
  27. Put the lids on the jar and do them up firmly, but do not over-tighten at this point.
  28. Return the jars to the canning water and process for 10 minutes. ***
  29. Remove from the water and allow jars to cool on a rack.
  30. Once completely cool, re-tighten the lids.
  31. Check the seal by pressing the top of each lid. If they push in, they did not create a vacuum - so put these jars in the fridge and consume within 3 weeks.
  32. Store all properly sealed jars in a cool, dry place for up to a year.
Notes
** These cold saucers will be used to help check the set of the marmalade.

*** Processing the Jars.
This is not something that is usually done in the UK. However, standard practice in the US is to 'can' the jars in a water bath for 10 minutes. This ensures all the air is removed from the jars and ensures the product will be safe to eat for up to a year. If air is allowed to enter the jars, then mold can grow. Any jars that have mold on the surface when opened should be thrown away. Mold here is likely to be botulism and can really make you ill. Scraping the top and removing the mold you can see is not actually removing all the mold spores.

I leave it up to you as to whether you feel you need to can your jams and jellies or not. Since I learned for myself about the dangers of not having a good seal (ie - you cannot guarantee the quality of a seal from re-suing old jam jars and their lids) I have always used the water bath method. Also, I give a lot of jars away as gifts, and this way I can be sure I am not going to poison anyone!
Recipe by Veggiemental at https://veggiemental.com/ruby-grapefruit-marmalade/