beXnlog

A Citrus Weekend

1) Bought a copy of Mes Confitures by Christine Ferber a few weeks ago. It's a really interesting book, organized by seasons and containing unusual combinations.

2) Grapefruit is all the sale rage; picked up three at Iovine Brothers and five at Whole Foods.

2.5) We've also gone through three cases of clementines and countless lemons and limes!

3) Ran to Reading Terminal yesterday morning to check for blood oranges again. We've been checking every few days since the beginning of the year! HIT THE JACKPOT again at Iovine, 4 for $1.00. We load up on 20. Peeled and shared one on the walk out = so delicious and raspberry. Must go back for more...

4) Spent 2 days making the "Pink Grapefruit Jelly" recipe from Mes Confitures. It's my 1st marmalade but overall 7th fruit conserve project*. This recipe involved multiple steps like making clear sour apple juice, poaching citrus rind strips in salt water and tying the seeds in a little bag for the extra pectin. The batch took a long time to set (much longer than the 10 minutes the recipe suggested) but it's a good honey-like consistency now. The marmalade is not overly bitter and has a sparkling sweetness. It's very clear with an orangey hue, with slivers of suspended rind. Overall it's good and i like it, but for batch #2 my changes would be as follows:

a) Find intensely delicious grapefruit. The ones i used were good but not amazing.
b) Use a little less sugar. Even though this marmalade is bittersweet, i think i would prefer it more bitter than sweet.
c) Boil it harder for less time. I should have maxed out on heat at a crazy boil instead of a regular boil.
d) Get a decent thermometer. The one i have is crap. Even though i'm getting the feel of when the gelling point is, it doesn't hurt to back it up with a thermometer and the freezer plate test.

5) Current plan: make blood orange jam or marmalade.

6) Future plans: strawberry jam, megaload black raspberry jam**, blackberry jam.

* For the record. In 2008 i made (in order): blueberry jam, blackberry jam, peach jam, black raspberry jam, peach jam #2, peach jam #3. In 2009 i've made: grapefruit marmalade.

** This is the best jam i've ever had. The berries were perfectly amazing and i'm going to pick POUNDS this year.

posted by beXn @ 12:10 PM