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.