Friday, February 17, 2012

Clementine or Mandarin Marmalade


What to do if you have sour mandarins?  The last batch of the Cuties mandarins that I bought turned out so sour that I wouldn't want to eat it.  Worst yet I bought 6 pounds of it!!  I would have returned it but my hubby said the gas money would have cost about the same and suggested to throw it away.  I am not a wasteful person, so it's hard to throw away 6 lb. of good looking mandarins even though it's inedible.  Then, I got an idea to make it into marmalade.  With added sugar, we can turn anything sour into sweet.  I came across an easy recipe but forgot where I have seen it but the process is really simple.


Look at those good looking mandarins, who could have guess it was so sour!  I guess it's time to stop buying the mandarins, is it the end of the season?  The last 40-50lbs that I bought was so sweet that I was truly disappointed in this recent batch.  Luckily the marmalade rescued me, it turned out so good that even my girls loved it.  I still have about 3 lb. of cuties left, right now sitting in my refrigerator to prolong the selves life, should last for a month before I make another batch of marmalade.  The marmalade can also be used in baking and cooking such as making cake, cookies, spread on Swiss roll, marmalade chicken, marmalade meat balls, marmalade baked salmon, etc.



Ingredients:

  • 3 lb. +/- (doesn't need to be exact) sour seedless Cuties mandarins
  • 2 3/4 cups to 3 cups granulated cane sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)
  • 4 Tbsp. lemon juice (freshly squeeze or bottle)
  • Thin strips mandarin peel, from all mandarins


Method:

1.  Wash all the mandarins.  Then, thinly strip the peel (there is a kitchen gadget for doing this called citrus zester/peeler).  Keep the peels in another bowl.  After that, peel all the mandarins, remove all the white membrane and divide into segments.

2.  Put all the segments into a food processor and process until fine, just give it 3 pulses.

3.  In a large saucepan, pour in the pureed and peels.  Turn the heat up.  Add the sugar and lemon juice and let it boil.  When boiling, turn the heat to low and let it simmer for about 50 minutes to an hour, uncover.  Keep stirring once in a while.

4.  Pour into prepared sterilized jars, seal and let cool.  The marmalade will thicken when cool.  Then keep refrigerated.

5.  If you want to keep it for a long time, you can seal and process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes as you would with canned jam or preserve.  Then, you don't need to refrigerate it until open and best use within 18 months.

31 comments:

Belinda @zomppa said...

I LOVE homemade marmalade and I sure love clementines!

mjskit said...

What a great save! Your marmalade looks delicious and definitely something I want to make. Bad or old fruit can always be turned into something sweet! :)

tigerfish said...

Hmmm, thanks for the warning about sour Cuties. In fact, when I bought Cuties clementines sometime in Jan, they were all sweet! But I got some again last week and it was a mixture of sour and sweet clementines :O

WendyinKK said...

Oh yes, jamming is the best way to turn super sour fruits into the sweetest thing on earth.
I've never tasted a clementine before, wish that someone will just import that fruit in to sell.

Ambika said...

Wow!!! Love the marmalade, such gorgeous color!!!

Nava K said...

This is a brilliant idea which I never thought of before and I can't remember how much of it I have been giving away because there's only two of us at home.

Next year after CNY, I am gonna follow your recipe and make this wonderful jam.

Unknown said...

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

Little Corner of Mine said...

This is great Belinda. If you happen to have some sour clementines, make sure you make this. ;)

Thanks mjskit. Definitely a great save! :D

Tigerfish, we ate a lot before and during the CNY and it were all so sweet. Luckily the sour clementines can turn into delicious marmalade, so not too bad. :)

Wendy, no clementines in your area?

Thanks Ambika. :)

Yes yes Nava. Please do, this marmalade is really wonderful. :)

Thanks Puspha. :)

daphne said...

Very good save indeed! U can never tell with some fruits isn't it!

Janine said...

gosh ur marmalade looks so vibrant and the steps look pretty easy! shall try it when i get my hands on some citrus!

Little Corner of Mine said...

Thanks Daphne. Yes, can't really tell.

Good Janine, feedback would be appreciated. :) This marmalade is not hard to make for sure.

Unknown said...

very good way to use the sour clementines. wow over there you have to buy big batches eh?

Jennifer Kendall said...

clementine marmalade! sounds DELICIOUS!!

Noob Cook said...

glad you turn it to something sweet and delicious!

Alice said...

i love marmalade, yum!

Little Corner of Mine said...

Rita, not necessary big batches, just that I thought it would be sweet, so I bought a lot. :P

Thanks Jenn, it's delicious! :)

Yeah me too noobcook. :)

We too Alice. :) Try it!

Anonymous said...

Best way to use up all these clementines on my counter, for sure. Thanks for posting! One question: I don't have any lemons or lemon juice right now. Think it'll work without it, or with a substitution?

Little Corner of Mine said...

Hi Anon,
I don't think there is a substitution. I never made without it but you can try. I "think" it should work.

Anonymous said...

Me again (Anon from above). I made it without the lemon juice, and it worked perfectly! It gets a bit saucy when it's out of the refrigerator for awhile, but it's otherwise A-OK. Thanks again for the great recipe!

Little Corner of Mine said...

Thank you for your feedback Anon, glad to know it worked without the lemon juice too. :)

Jenn B said...

Thanks for showing just how easy it is to make marmalade. I made some this week with clementines that were starting to dry out. It tastes great and I was able to can 2 pints for later in the winter!

Little Corner of Mine said...

Thank you for your feedback Jenn. :) Enjoy your 2 pints!

tusen said...

Thanks for the recipe, it was exactly what I needed for the sour mandarins I had - only 1lb, but I didn't want to waste them and it was enough for 1 jar. I wanted to experiment a bit so I chopped in some ginger.

Little Corner of Mine said...

Thanks for taking the time to feedback to me tusen. :) How does your ginger marmalade turned out? A bit spicy and sweet?

tusen said...

Sweet and just slightly spicy, and also somehow still a bit sour which I like very much. I added half a cup of sugar to 1 lb of mandarins.

Little Corner of Mine said...

Cool. I might try it with some ginger next time since we loved ginger. :)

Unknown said...

I'm making this now, thank you it smells and looks amazing.....

Little Corner of Mine said...

Hi Michelle,
I am sure you will love it! This is one of my favorites plus the blueberries preserved. ;)

Anonymous said...

Just made this recipe with a twist; I added half pound of habinero chiles! Sweet and hot!!!

Little Corner of Mine said...

What a WOW twist Anon! :)

Billy said...

Thank you so much for this clementine marmalade recipe! I've been looking for a delicious one that is easy to make! Cannot wait to make this again.