Comments on: Strawberry Lemon Marmalade

By: Stacey

Stacey — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 23:14:08 +0000

Could you make this with unsweetened strawberries? We never sugar ours before we freeze them, and I’d like to make a new marmalade this year with strawberries AND using the natural pectin in lemons instead of the store-bought kind as I am allergic to apples and I had heard that apple was the main source of commercial pectin. In other words, I’d like to use YOUR recipe. Last year we made tomato marmalade and used the natural pectin in lemons and oranges and that went over well. When we gave it out at Christmas, nobody realized it even had tomatoes in it, except for the unexplainable (to them) red color!
Thanks.

By: Therese Z

Therese Z — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 19:45:48 +0000

I meant one JAR’s worth, not one YEAR’s worth. How odd.

By: Therese Z

Therese Z — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 19:39:09 +0000

If it’s too tart, can’t you use those jars as ingredients in something else, as a filling in a sweet muffin (2/3rds of the batter, a tsp of marmalade or jam, the last 1/3rd of batter), the center of a sweet butter cookie, or even consider melting one year’s worth to make a syrup from to pour over a custard or vanilla pudding or ice cream?

Pairing up too-tart preserves with really sweet foods usually benefits them both.

Years of canning and I still end up with odd jars, and I’ve had good luck re-purposing them nearly every time.

By: Chef Jen

Chef Jen — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:36:21 +0000

Well, my first time making this stuff didn’t wind up as I’d hoped. My lemons were more large than medium, and the marmalade was too tart. In my inexperience, I didn’t realize that the sweetness would not change upon sitting. I have 6 half-pints. Can they be remade or must I chuck them out?

By: dorisandjilly

dorisandjilly — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:49:59 +0000

@Chef Jen: Sure! Fresh strawberries are fine. I only used frozen because I was making this in January. Remember that my berries were sugared in the freezer, so you may need to increase the sweetness to get a good gel.

By: Chef Jen

Chef Jen — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:03:06 +0000

I think Elizabeth partly addressed the question I have- would fresh strawberries substitute well enough for frozen? I’d rather use fresh while they’re available. This looks great and will make a perfect first-time-jam-making experience for me.

By: dorisandjilly

dorisandjilly — Tue, 18 May 2010 01:39:10 +0000

Elizabeth: It’s hard to say exactly what the problem was, but, for starters, never double (or triple!) a recipe for anything that needs to gel. It’s like trying to boil down a giant pot of stock–it takes forever. And 6 cups of sugar sounds like a very small amount of sugar for such a large quantity of strawberries. Also, when you use a low-sugar recipe, you have to use a low-sugar pectin. Chalk it up to a learning experience, but it still makes a great sauce!

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Mon, 17 May 2010 19:36:43 +0000

Some friends and I (all completely inexperienced canners) tried to make this recipe yesterday and the darn thing would just not gel. We used: 9 lemons, 4.5lbs of fresh strawberries, 9 cups of water and 6 cups of sugar. Then we put in a three teaspoons of pectin, and it still would not come together. Basically, we tripled the recipe but didn’t triple the sugar because we had just made another jam that called for 14 cups of sugar and reduced it by half, and it gelled up just fine. I’m sorry that we tinkered with perfection, but can anyone explain to clueless-me why it wouldn’t have come together? Was it too much water, not enough sugar, too many strawberries? Thank you!

By: Lindsey S

Lindsey S — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 20:28:28 +0000

this sounds sooo good, and thanks to Laura for asking about fresh strawberries because that is what I’ll be using. This will be my second item I’m canning ever and first time trying/making marmalade too, I’ll see how this goes haha

Yum!

By: Laura

Laura — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 20:01:04 +0000

Awesome! Thanks so much- I can’t wait!