Meyer Lemon Marmalade

This sounds simple and delicious, but I'm wondering about the seeds in the recipe? What is the purpose of putting them in cheesecloth and cooking them? Does it add pectin somehow? Since you never know how many seeds you'll have in any given piece of fruit, it seems rather arbitrary.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Meyer-Lemon-Marmalade-102746

A vast majority of the pectin will be in the peel and I doubt a few seeds would contribute any to the final product at all. I have no experience with making marmalade, so maybe there's another reason the recipe calls for this step (bitterness?). If it were me, I'd skip the step entirely because the cheesecloth would probably absorb (and remove from the final product) some essential oils that you'll want in the final product.

=R=

HI,

The processing time is only five minutes with 1/4 inch head space. For any processing time less than 10 minutes, you need to boil the jars for ten minutes to sterilize first.

Seeds and jams --- in some older peach jam recipes, they suggest you crack the shell to get to the white germ in the middle. This adds a subtle almond flavor to a peach jam. Of course, this seed (maybe most seeds) has a trace amount of arsenic.

I have a feeling the author of your jam recipe likes bitter. Whenever I bite into citrus seeds, I always regret it. I would not do it, though if you do please report back.

Whenever I can anything, I always look for parallel recipes for processing methods at the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

Regards,

Of course, this seed (maybe most seeds) has a trace amount of arsenic.

Not arsenic - cyanide. And it's more than a "trace amount":

" A study of the toxicity levels of peaches and apricots clearly shows that 13 to 15 raw peach pit kernels would get you into the lethal range for adults, Dr. Margaret Dietert (associate professor of biology at Wells College, Aurora, N.Y.) said. . .

"For children, around 15 percent of the adult level could be lethal, because they are extremely susceptible."

sundevilpeg wrote:

Of course, this seed (maybe most seeds) has a trace amount of arsenic.

Not arsenic - cyanide. And it's more than a "trace amount":

" A study of the toxicity levels of peaches and apricots clearly shows that 13 to 15 raw peach pit kernels would get you into the lethal range for adults, Dr. Margaret Dietert (associate professor of biology at Wells College, Aurora, N.Y.) said. . .

"For children, around 15 percent of the adult level could be lethal, because they are extremely susceptible."

Thanks for the correction, I knew it and blew it.

You don't see the seed kernel for peaches and apricots used in contemporary recipes, though you do in older.

Regards,

Thanks all for confirming what I suspected. I just needed some independent verification that it wouldn't affect how the recipe would actually WORK (not allowing it to set properly), I'm just inclined to leave out the seeds. I'm not a fan of "bitter", either.

i'm not a canner, but a quick google search found several lemon marmalade recipes which had the seeds wrapped in cheesecloth. each recipe mentioned that the seeds contain a lot of pectin. i would do more research if i were you, OP, before abandoning the seeds....

I've made my share of various marmelades before (though admittedly not Meyer lemon) and I have never, not once, used the seeds. I'd go with Ron's advice; I've never had any trouble with the marmelade gelling either.

Hi,

In the link to my bible for food preservation, their cooking method does not suggest any need for seeds:

To Prepare Fruit — Wash and peel fruit. Cut peel in thin strips into a saucepan. Add cold water and simmer, covered, until tender (about 30 minutes). Drain. Remove seeds and membrane from peeled fruit. Cut fruit into small pieces.

To Make Marmalade — Sterilize canning jars. Combine peel and fruit in saucepan, add boiling water and sugar. Boil rapidly over high heat, stirring frequently, until the temperature measures 8°F above the boiling point of water (220°F at sea level), about 20 minutes. Remove from heat; skim. Pour hot marmalade into hot, sterile jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened clean paper towel; adjust two-piece metal canning lids. Process in a Boiling Water Canner.

I think those seeds are there for flavor and not much more.

Regards,

justjoan wrote:i'm not a canner, but a quick google search found several lemon marmalade recipes which had the seeds wrapped in cheesecloth. each recipe mentioned that the seeds contain a lot of pectin. i would do more research if i were you, OP, before abandoning the seeds....

I'm 99% sure this is erroneous. Commercial pectin processors only use the peel. If there were any amount of useful pectin to be found in the seeds, you can bet they'd be using it, too. I have call into a business associate who sells pectin for a living. I'll confirm this with him but I'm fairly certain we've already had this conversation.

=R=

I had a bag of Meyer Lemons that needed to be used up when I saw tgoddess' post. I made the marmalade this weekend using the recipe that tgoddess provided and following the canning instructions that Cathy2 provided. It turned out well with a bright, tart lemon flavor.

If anyone else decides to try this recipe, be sure to weigh the lemons. The recipe called for 6 lemons with a total weight of 1.5 pounds. My 6 lemons only weighed 1 pound, so I had to scale back the recipe accordingly. I did not use the pits, and the end product is not bitter (which is what I was aiming for). There was plenty of pectin without the pits. In fact, the marmalade is a bit firmer than I prefer. My marmalade was already starting to gel using the plate test at 205°, but I kept cooking it until my candy thermometer read 220°, based on the directions found in the link that Cathy2 provided to the National Center for Home Food Preservation website.

Cathy, if I make this again, could I stop cooking at 210° or 215° rather than 220°? It seems that the color began to turn to amber after 210° (it was more of a bright yellow until then), so I wonder if I overcooked it.

Thanks again to tgoddess and Cathy2. This was my first effort at making a fruit preserve and my first effort at home canning. Overall, I am very pleased with the results of this first effort.

Hi,

I happen to like a more spreadable jam, too.

Everyone once in a while, I overcook a jam where a lot of water has evaporated making for an extremely thick and sometimes unusable product.

I made Meyer lemon marmalade two years ago cross referencing between the Farm Journal canning book and my favorite website. I will reread it to recall what I did and advise.

Making jams and marmalades is pretty good project to get your taste in for canning. Of course, in winter it is a joy because of the fragrant odors plus extra heat and moisture in the air. Those same characteristics can be vexing in August.

Regards,

mrsm your marmalade looks lovely. Where did you get the jars?

Cathy2 wrote:

sundevilpeg wrote:

Of course, this seed (maybe most seeds) has a trace amount of arsenic.

Not arsenic - cyanide. And it's more than a "trace amount":

" A study of the toxicity levels of peaches and apricots clearly shows that 13 to 15 raw peach pit kernels would get you into the lethal range for adults, Dr. Margaret Dietert (associate professor of biology at Wells College, Aurora, N.Y.) said. . .

"For children, around 15 percent of the adult level could be lethal, because they are extremely susceptible."

Thanks for the correction, I knew it and blew it.

You don't see the seed kernel for peaches and apricots used in contemporary recipes, though you do in older.

Regards,

Not to derail a marmalade discussion, but apricot kernels are used in Italian amaretti cookies. I purchased the kernels a few years ago at Trader Joe's and this past Christmas on line. I made a batch of amaretti from a relatively recently published Italian cookbook using the kernels, ate several and lived to tell about it.

ronnie_suburban wrote:

justjoan wrote:i'm not a canner, but a quick google search found several lemon marmalade recipes which had the seeds wrapped in cheesecloth. each recipe mentioned that the seeds contain a lot of pectin. i would do more research if i were you, OP, before abandoning the seeds....

I'm 99% sure this is erroneous. Commercial pectin processors only use the peel. If there were any amount of useful pectin to be found in the seeds, you can bet they'd be using it, too. I have call into a business associate who sells pectin for a living. I'll confirm this with him but I'm fairly certain we've already had this conversation.

=R=

Confirming information from an industry professional that the seeds contain an insignificant amount of pectin. It's probably a waste of time (and cheesecloth) to do anything but discard them.

=R=

Thank you Ava - coming from a pro like you, I feel that I've just received the supreme compliment! My source for jars is church rummage sales. I think these cost about $.25 each. I was using them for storage. Now I am actually using them for canning!

Was at the Vernon Hills Costco yesterday, and they had Meyer Lemons (4 lbs ) for $7
I'd like to try marmalade, but I have found a lot of conflicting recipes.
Slice and soak for 24 hrs?
pectin, no pectin?
?

irisarbor wrote:Was at the Vernon Hills Costco yesterday, and they had Meyer Lemons (4 lbs ) for $7
I'd like to try marmalade, but I have found a lot of conflicting recipes.
Slice and soak for 24 hrs?
pectin, no pectin?
?

Recipe? - I followed the Epicurious recipe pretty closely, except I did not use the seeds, just discarded them. See recipe link in OP post above.
Soak? - Yes, I soaked the lemon slices.
Pectin? - No, I did not add pectin.

HI,

Earlier in the thread was my approach to making, which I believe irisarbor you sampled. It was pretty straight forward and done in very little time.

Regards,

Yes Cathy yours was delicious, which was why when I say the big tub of lemons I jumped.

I was at Fresh farm in Wheeling yesterday and they had 1 lb bags of Meyer lemons selling at 2/$3.
I thought that was pretty good, and bought some with a marmalade plan in mind.
Thought there might be other like-minded folks out there, too