Kumquat Marmalade

Come winter, kumquats start to appear everywhere and we couldn't resist buying a large package of these sweet and delicate treats.

We also found a wonderful recipe for kumquat marmalade at Gothamist, a New York based web magazine we like to read. We combined our adoration of kumquats, marmalade and winter and filled a few jars with excellent results.

Ingredients:

750 gr kumquats

4 cups water

4 cups sugar

The Recipe:

Slice the kumquats very thinly, reserving the seeds.

Transfer them to a large pot, add the water and seeds (tied in a cheese cloth). Let sit for 24 hours.

The next day, bring the mixture to a boil on the stove. Lower the heat and let simmer for an hour, reducing the mixture. 

Add the sugar while constantly stirring, and then cook for another 20 minutes.

Check to see if the marmalade is ready by dipping a teaspoon and watching the marmalade turning into jell when it cools.

Remover the bag of seeds, transfer the marmalade to jars (using whatever caning method you choose) and store in the fridge. This marmalade is so amazing you'll finish it up in no time...

Bitter Lemon Jam

A few weeks ago, we came back from a weekend brunch at E+D's overloaded with lemons straight from their lemon tree.

We sat staring at a huge pile of lemons and decided: we will make a lemon jam experiment. We asked ourselves: lemon jam?
The result turned out to be a bit bitter since we threw the lemons in with the peel intact. It goes very well with meat or on bread with sesame paste.

We ended up making a very large amount of jam (since we dragged home so many), storing it in glass bottles in the refrigerator.
This recipe should be enough for one jar.

Ingredients:
1 cup lemons, cut into four and then sliced, with the peel
1 parsimon, cut into four and then sliced
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 cloves
3 tbs white wine

The Recipe:
Place the ingredients in a pot on medium heat, stirring often.
When it starts to thicken remove from heat and pour into a sterilized jar. Close well, and store in the refrigerator for up to three weeks.

In order to store the jam for a longer period of time we followed Dorie Greenspan's advice on canning.
Another great canning information source is Saving the Season.