Project 81****************cooking marmalade************

This has a little effort to it, but it is worth it.  Real good marmalade......even the boys love it!

My mom brought me the lemons as I told you in an earlier post.  I start working my next week of night duty tomorrow night, so I had to cook them!

It is always good to use the freshest lemons you can get to get a better product.  I used older lemons before, and it was a total mess.  It just did not want to thicken.  That's the reason I had to cook these ones, as they were still fresh!

Use 12 lemons and weigh them.  Then weigh the same mass in white sugar.  Cut your lemons in half and press out the juice.  Place the peels in a pot, the juice aside and the pips in a third bowl.  Cover your pips with 250 ml cold water and allow to stand on one side.  Cover your peels with water and cook until soft. Use a match to test it by pressing it into the peel.  If it makes a hole easily, it is done.  Remove from the heat and pour off the water.  With a spoon, remove the albedo.  Then cut the peels in thin strips.

Now heat your juice, sugar and the water from the pips and allow to cook a little into a syrup.  Then add the peels, and cook quite fast until it thickens(soft ball stadium).  Remove the foam if necessary and stir every now and then.  Switch off and allow to cool just a little.  This will assure that when you bottle the fruit will spread evenly and not lie on top.  Bottle in warm sterilised jars.  Allow to cool and put the lids up.  I used wax to seal it, but it is not necessary.