Marmalade is another form of sugar concentrate which is made from pulpy fruits, preferably those high in pectin and acids contains. It is a clear, jelly-like mixture in which shreds or thin slices of fruit or peel are suspended.
How to Make Marmalade
- Preparing the fruit. Generally, the juice and the sliced fruit are prepared separately. They are mixed only during the final boiling of the fruit and juice with sugar.
In preparing marmalade from oranges or lemons, the fruits are mixed in the proportion of ½ kilogram of lemons to 2.5 kilograms of oranges. They are sliced thinly, about 3/16 of an inch.
- Boiling. Place the sliced fruits or peel in an aluminum or stainless steel kettle. Cover with two to three times its volume of water and boil until tender.
- Extracting the juice. Press the pulp in heavy cloth or in two thickness of cheesecloth the fine fruit pulp.
- Testing for pectin and acid content. Clear the jelly by letting it settle in shallow containers for 24 hours. The juice should give good pectin result and should contain at least 1% of acid expressed as citric acid. To find out the pectin and acid content of the juice, perform the same test used in jelly-making.
- Combining peel and juice. The juice and peel are combined after the peel has been boiled until tender. If the slices are very thin and the juice is rich in pectin, add about five to seven per cent of the sliced peels to the juice. On the other hand, if slices are thick, you may add a larger proportion by weight of peel. If whole or sliced fruit is used without previous separation of the peel and juice, be sure to boil the fruit first until tender before you add the sugar.
- Adding sugar. The amount of sugar needed depends on the composition of the juice. More sugar can be added to juices rich in pectin and acid than those deficient in one or both constituents.
- Boiling to jellying point. The sugar, juice and peel of slices or chopped fruits are boiled to jelly point which is usually 104 degrees Celsius. A good marmalade should be of jelly-like consistency and not syrupy.
- Cooling. It is important to cool the marmalade to allow absorption of sugar by the peel and to prevent the peel from coming to the surface instead remaining suspended.
- Flavoring. A small amount of oranges extract added to the marmalade after boiling has been completed will improve the flavor. This is done because boiling removes much of the oranges oil from peels.
- Packing and pasteurizing. Marmalades should be packed in vacuum-sealed glass or tin containers to reduce oxidation of the product. It should be pasteurized in water at 82 degrees Celsius except when filled and sealed or above 82 degrees Celsius .