Meyer Lemon Marmelade

I just came back from California with a suitcase full of freshly picked Meyer Lemons which are growing everywhere in the Bay Area. I adore a good marmalade made with these babies but I can't find any recipe that does not scare me off by the way in which it dissolves the rind, instead of preserving the pieces. In other words, these recipes have you cook off the marmalade for so long that the stuff is much more like a puree than a true marmalade. I understand the need to develop the pectin which requires 20-30 minutes of boiling to get the mixture to 220-230 degrees F, but this really sacrifices the end result. My goal is a marmalade that is primarily lemony and sweet, with only a hint of bitterness, that has a real nice chew. This would be a condiment in which the liquid component is nice and sticky/thick, so that it does not separate from the jellied chunks of rind. Does anybody have any suggestions for how I can prepare a marmalade that has nice chewy but tender (and not bitter) pieces of rind as the main component? What about a brief soak in pectinex to get rid of some of the bitterness? How can I get the rind well infused with the sugar to give it a glaceed or candied-like quality?

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Chris_Young_80640

@Merridith — Try this method for parts of the peel

http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/cured-lemon-peel

Then fold it into a marmalade at the last moment before pouring steaming hot into sterilized jars. Seal and allow to cool.

merridith

@Chris so, I finally managed to get the perfect Meyer Lemon Marmalade so I wanted to get back to you. At first I tried a very traditional method except that I cooked the sliced peel for less time so as to avoid having it fall apart. Traditional recipes call for a short blanche on the theory that you are purging some of the bitterness. This is folly for two reasons: (1) if you don't like bitterness, don't eat marmalade, and (2) unless you get rid of the pith, the bitterness changes very little. I tried your suggested method of making the SV cured lemon rind and that recipe certainly does make delicious lemon peel but for one interesting reason it does NOT work for marmalade! You might chuckle when you read this, as I cannot imagine (given your chemical/scientific knowledge) you don't know. I don't know the scientific "why" but if you soften the peel with sugar, as in the CS methodology, then, when you take it out and slice it up and add it back to the pectin-developed juices, it ceases to be able to take on that jelly! It just sits there in the jelly and does not become more candied and, in fact toughens after being boiled in the pectin developed juice as it is being brought to the temp needed to achieve the final jell (230 F). I took a course from Rachel Saunders and she noted this effect when explaining why it is that for marmalade, one must soften the peel almost to the point of falling apart without sugar, before infusing it with the sugar in order to get the right candling effect! So, there you have it! In the end, after several failed experiments, I yielded the results in the photo attached.

Pepijn_31744

You were not kidding about that suitcase full of Meyer lemons

Nicky_J_17040

looks great!