tiny happy

I scored a bag of limes from my parent's orchard when I visited them last week. It's hard to imagine being able to afford a big stash of limes here in the city so I was pretty thrilled.

I decided to make a batch of lime marmalade. Everyone knows this spread makes winter mornings slightly more bearable. So it only made sense to try making it myself.

I must admit the whole process was a bit of a palaver because I couldn't find my preserving pot, anywhere, and I had to cook the marmalade in 2 batches. You could, of course, vary the quantity of limes or leave out the lemons entirely. (I put them in, pips and all, because I wanted the added power of pectin, and my limes didn't have any seeds. Alternatively, you could gather the seeds and place them inside a piece of muslin tied with string then remove once your marmalade has finished cooking.)

This is my recipe (which made about 6-7 jars):

LIME MARMALADE

12 limes

2 lemons 

6 cups of water

plain sugar

1. Slice up the citrus as finely as you can and place in a large ceramic basin. Cover with the water. Leave overnight.

2. The next day, pour mixture into a big pot and cook gently for about an hour, or until the fruit is very soft. Remove from heat and mash with a potato masher.

3. Determine how many cups of mixture you have by measuring it back into the original bowl. Then tip it back into a large pot and add the same number of cups of sugar.

4. Cook gently until the sugar is completely dissolved. Place a saucer into the freezer for later. Wash and dry jars and place them in a warm oven to sterilise.

5. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil and cook for about 15 minutes or until it looks glossy and thick. Test for readiness by dropping a little mixture onto the cold saucer then returning it to the freezer. If it gels and forms a slight 'film' it is ready to bottle. If not, keep cooking for a bit longer.

6. Carefully pour into hot jars and seal.