Biscuits and Bacon

These Meyer lemons did not grow on a tree in my rain sodden yard. Nor were they a loving care package sent from a friend in a place where such miracles grow.  They came from Costco. Two weeks in a row during the winter holidays I purchased a case of 12.  The first 12 went into everything I could imagine, but mainly they went into bourbon & soda.  Sometimes warm, sometimes over ice.  Always amazing.

When I had only six left from the second batch, I started to think about the day they would be gone. When there would be none to put in my roasting chickens or zested into gremolata sprinkled over braised boneless beef  short ribs (also found at Costco.)

Preserving food is something my mother did on occasion when I was a kid. Other than freezing things in Foodsaver bags, I had never tried. But these seemed too good, too special to let slip away.

First option: Moroccan style preserving in salt. Interesting idea, but it takes a while to work. No instant gratification.

Second option: Marmalade. The recipe sounds simple. They sell canning stuff at my local grocery store. While I am a little intimidated by the idea of canning, various sources assure me that this is a fairly safe way to try the concept.

So, it is decided.  I will follow directions and hope that no one gets poisoned.  Since I didn’t know if I ever wanted to do this again, I didn’t want to buy the big canning pot, funnel & tongs, so I bought short little 4 ounce jars so that I could use me big soup pot for boiling them.  (Needed the water to be two inches over the top of the jars.)

Here’s what I did:

Slice the ends off the lemons to remove the thickest part of the peel, slice in to thin wedges and slice the wedges finely.  I didn’t want big hunks of peel in the finished product.

The recipe I found called for equal parts (by weight) of lemons (6, which I had!) sugar & water, plus one packet of pectin.

Now, after the fact, I decided that I should have sliced the lemons into a colander and let the juice drain out so that I would have measured the weight of the fruit and used the juice as part of the water measure. But I didn’t. Next time.

Put the lemons & water in a pan and bring to a boil, keep boiling for ten minutes.

Add the sugar & pectin & boil at full tilt (you should not be able to stir down the boil) for another ten minutes.

Ladle the goo into your jars as directed.

(If you are new to canning, go here to get info on how to prepare your jars, etc.)

I had to do two batches in the water.

The jars made the popping sound that proves they are sealed quite soon after removing from the water. It made me nervous that I had done something wrong, but I went with it.

Because I am a giving soul, and because I am still not convinced that I haven’t created something that will eventually poison us, I gave half of the pots as gifts. The little jars of sunshine were happily received in the middle of the dark, dreary,  drizzly winter.

I envy those who live in climates where such treasures as Meyer lemons are commonly available.  Because they do not travel well, it is not something we see here regularly.  But keep yours eyes open and if you have a chance to get your hands on some there are worse things you can do than make marmalade.

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