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Saturday, January 24, 2009

Spicy Meyer Lemon Marmalade


The Meyer lemons are just beautiful right now. My tree sits right outside my kitchen window so I see it every time I'm at the sink. The lemons are hanging there like bright yellow ornaments, but there are also flowers, and lemons in every stage of development. If we don't get too hard of a freeze I'll be picking lemons throughout the year, but winter is prime time. All those yellow beauties, plus a handful of remaining Aji Pineapple chiles inspired this recipe. I'm not much of a toast and jam eater, but I do have a fondness for chile jam with cheese. So I thought perhaps a spicy lemon marmalade might also be good with cheese. So, here it is.....


Spicy Meyer Lemon Marmalade

1 1/2 pounds Meyer lemons
4 cups water
1 1/2 ounces hot yellow chile peppers (Aji Pineapple)
4 cups sugar

Halve the lemons crosswise and remove and discard the seeds. Quarter the lemons halves and thinly slice. Combine the lemon slices and water in a large heavy pot. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 24 hours.

Thinly slice the chiles and add to the pot. Bring the lemon mixture to a boil over medium heat, reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until reduced to about 4 cups, about 45 minutes. Add the sugar and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the lemon is translucent and the jam just starts to thicken, about 10 to 15 minutes. It will still be very liquid but will set as it cools.

Ladel into sterilized (boiled 10 minutes) 1/2 pint jam jars, filling to within 1/4-inch of the rims. Clean the rims and seal the jars with scalded rings and lids. Process in boiling water for 5 minutes.

Makes 5 to 6 1/2-pint jars.

Of course, you can omit the chile peppers and just make basic marmalade. The white pith of Meyer lemons is not bitter, so marmalade made with Meyers is quite nice for those of us who don't appreciate that quality in our sweets. Another variation that I'm thinking of is to add either rosemary or thyme, either with or without the chiles.

14 comments:

  1. This sounds like an interesting combination. Thanks for sharing it!

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  2. How wonderful! While I have no access to Meyer Lemons, I love to live vicariously through other gardeners.

    Cameron

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  3. Hi!
    What a great idea! Our Meyer lemon tree is also just covered in beautiful lemons of various stages of ripeness. I think we have never had so many lemons!
    I will let you know if we try this!
    :)
    Philip

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  4. I was going to try marmalade with mint this year and just never made time to do so... Hey I nominated you for an influential garden blogger over here http://www.bumblebeeblog.com/ More people need to know about you I love the site.

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  5. I love your pictures. I'm passing you the Lemonade Award. See the "rules" at myqualityday.blogspot.com

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  6. Oh yum, that sounds delicious. I am so jealous, I will probably never have a lemon tree. My in-laws have a Meyer but they never use the fruit. Maybe I'll send them your recipe! :)

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  7. It sounds very nice, but then I've always liked marmalade with cheese.

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  8. Love Meyer lemons and your Spicy Meyer Lemon Marmalade sounds wonderful.

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  9. Thanks everyone! I tried the marmalade yesterday with soft goat cheese on crackers and have to say that it was really good. My honey gave it 2 thumbs up!

    Philip, please do let me know if you try it, would love to have some feedback.

    Hi Ang, Thanks so much! I'm not familiar with bumblebeeblog but I'm going to go check it out.

    Sharkbytes, I'm not familiar with the Lemonade Award either, but will be soon!

    Karen, doesn't it drive you crazy when people have fruit on their trees and it doesn't get used. Make sure they send you a jar or 2 if they make the marmalade. ;)

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  10. My Meyer is just a couple years old and still not a heavy producer. Posts like this make me feel very impatient!

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  11. Chuck, I think you don't have much longer to wait! Meyers always seem to take a couple of years to get established and then the next thing you know you've got more lemons than you know what to do with.

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  12. I was telling my Mom about your spicy marmalade recipe. She has a huge tree and we make marmalade every year, but never spicy. Spicy sounds so good, but do you have peppers in your garden in January or do you use dried peppers? I bought some limon pepper seed, but can't figure out how we will have peppers and lemons ripe at the same time in Sonoma.

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  13. elizabeth, at this time of year I use frozen chile peppers. I freeze whole ripe peppers in the fall by laying them on a baking sheet and putting them in the freezer, once frozen I transfer them to air tight containers or bags. The keep quite well in the freezer for long time, some of mine have been frozen for over a year and are still good. When I want to use a frozen pepper I simply chop it up while still frozen. If you don't want to use the seeds it is possible to slice the frozen pepper in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds before chopping the flesh. I imagine that it would be possible to use dried peppers in the marmalade as well.

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  14. Thank you Michelle! Hopefully we'll get a pepper harvest and try this out. Did you change this recipe to use 1 3/4lbs lemons and 3 3/4c sugar and just reduce to 5 cups? I've been following your suggestions and they work well for me.

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Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. I value your insights and feedback.