February Fabulousness: Marmalade

It doesn't surprise me that an English girlfriend is the one that sends me a recipe for marmalade. Los Angeles used to be a city of citrus groves. We weep at the sight of lemons, oranges, limes, grapefruit left to rot on trees. Michaela, who grew up in Kenya, loves camping (not glamping), goes regularly on safari, and raises her own hens, is a first-rate cook and and ace at putting the SoCal bounty to good use.  How much fun would it be to make and jar and label your own personal marmalade? -- MsW

Michaela says: Driving around LA reveals an abundance of citrus dripping off trees.  Fruit becomes ornamental or perhaps foraged by dog walkers to make marmalade... For what is toast at breakfast without a pot of homemade marmalade?

Marmalade

gorgeous SoCal lemons

boiling fruit, sugar & muslin (for pips & membrane)

Michaela's Grapefruit Marmalade!

Ingredients
citrus (e.g. 3 lb grapefruit, Seville oranges, lemons, limes, blood oranges, tangerines... by themselves, mixed - what's your preference...)
twice its weight in sugar (e.g. 6 lb sugar - less sugar is ok too)
juice of a lemon for each lb (e.g. 2 - 3 lemons to help set)

Method
halve, squeeze and cut as finely as you like to eat it  (hard to squeeze kumquats - so just slice if using)
save pips and membrane in a muslin; if no muslin, include and remove after initial boiling
put in saucepan with the same no of liters of water as weight, or a little more (e.g. 3.5 l water)
simmer gently for about 2hrs with tied muslin until peel is very soft and liquid reduced by 1/2
take off heat - can take a break in cooking here
when ready to resume, clean and bake jars to sterilize in hot oven
put sugar in saucepan and stir until sugar dissolves over gentle heat
boil for 15 mins (approx.) until setting point
pay attention here and hover with cold plate to test is set or not
if cooked too much mix can get very brown, burnt, too thick...
remove any white frothy scum
when ready, let stand off heat, so it cools a little
pour in to hot jars - almost to top, seal with cling film, and shut lid
if you spilled the marmalade on the side, don't worry - you can wash it off when the pots cooler to handle
decorate jar
store in a cupboard
when opened store in fridge