In the field of marmalade cookbooks, this book remains at the top of the heap. It’s an excellent primer on the basics as well as an opportunity to go deeper.
Last fall, when I was still trying to pick myself up from the blow of being laid off from my job, I got a email from my editor at Running Press. She was working on a marmalade project and wanted to know if I’d be interested in making a sampling of recipes from book for the photo shoot. My need for work, coupled with the fact that I was very much excited to see a world of new-to-me marmalades, meant that I said yes within moments of receiving her note.
In early January, I spent about two weeks digging deep into the world of marmalades. I simmered, sliced, grated, and jarred up 12 recipes from the book. I went crazy trying to find yuzu, passionfruit, and Seville oranges in Philadelphia. Without question, I got far more than my daily recommended dose of vitamin C during that period.
Now, many months later, Marmalade
is here and it is gorgeous. Written by food writer and marmalade obsessive Elizabeth Field and photographed by award winning food blogger and photographer Helene Dujardin, this book is a pleasure to hold and use. It contains a variety of marmalades (sweet, savory, citrus, and beyond), as well meals that can incorporate these spreads and baked goods that can serve as vehicle for them.
Of course, I get particular pleasure flipping through this book, because nearly every preserve and spread pictured is something I made in my own kitchen. It’s ridiculously satisfying to look at the photos and recall the flavors and aromas of each recipe.
I’m also happy to have this volume in my hands, because while I made a dozen of the recipes it contains, I didn’t actually get to keep any of them. I’m very much looking forward to revisit the Tangerine and Vanilla Marmalade, as well as the “In the Pink” variety made from ruby red grapefruit.
Recently, I queried my Twitter followers, asking what they were looking for in a preserving book. An internet acquaintance of mine said that she was looking for something that would allow her to push her preserving skills and move beyond the basic “Canning 101” recipes that are so readily found. Happily (at least, if she likes marmalade), this is a book that might serve her well. While it’s plenty accessible for new canners, there’s also plenty here that will satisfy those looking to broaden their canning.
I’m afraid that I’m responsible for this variation on the Passionfruit Marmalade recipe in this book. When I tested these recipes, I marched up and down the length and breadth of Philadelphia, trying to find passionfruit. I came to the conclusion that it was impossible to source in January.
Instead of admitting defeat, I created a version that used dragon fruit, in the hopes that it might trick the camera. It didn’t, but instead of tossing that batch, the powers that be decided to add a variation to the book, in order to make the photo work. I was greatly relieved that my efforts weren’t wasted. It’s also fun to see the small impact I had on this delightful book.
I’d love to have this book so that I can make more variations of marmalade, which I love!! My Gal Pal Pat & I made a wonderful batch one year – we were so broke & found a whole shopping cart full of marked down fruit at our favorite store. I remember standing there trying to decide what we could do with it all. There were grapefruits, lemons, limes, peaches, apricots, pineapples & a few other goodies in the bottom. We’d just finished a week of canning free tomatoes so we were ready for something else! Marmalade I decided! We bought the whole buggy for $20 & went to her house to get out the BIG pot. We peeled & chopped & grated & threw the whole mess into the BIG pot. I saved all the citrus rinds which I chopped into pieces about an inch & half long & maybe a quarter of an inch wide to be added later. The fruit was simmered all afternoon long until it was reduced by a third or so when we added the peel. I don’t think we even added sugar to it – I didn’t. By suppertime, it was thick & wonderful & didn’t run off the bread when spooned on. We only had a few pint jars at that point so we filled quart jars when we ran out. And we processed the jars in a boiling water bath ‘just in case’. All of them sealed & we ended up with almost three dozen jars in assorted sizes from the $20 worth of fruit. We even had some stuff left over. All our friends got a jar for Christmas that year & they all begged for more. We were never able to reproduce that wonderful golden stuff – ever! No one wrote anything down. But it sure was good while it lasted!!
I love marmalade! It’s great to make during the winter months when lots of citrus varieties are available & less expensive. I see dragon fruit in my local grocery store all the time now. They look very interesting. I’d certainly try the dragon fruit marmalade variation.
I looooooooove marmalade. I’ve only made it twice so far, but I would love to make more!!
I love to make marmalade, however, I do not like eating it, unless I make it into a cake (like my famous sticky tripple citrus marmalade cake mmm)
My father loves marmalade and I have started to develop a taste for it as I have gotten older. Will be trying the blood orange version to surprise my father when he visits next!
I love marmalade on buttered scones best, or added to oil and vinegar for a fast and delicious salad dressing. I have been meaning to make marmalade for the past five winters. We have a beautiful old Meyer lemon tree in our backyard that is loaded with fruit every December. This is definitetly the year!
I made some delicious peach marmalade about 20 year ago. Ever since I have been hooked on marmalades. I have added ginger, cinnamon & rosemary. My most recent batch was a Lemon Pineapple Rosemary marmalade, it did not set up…yet….so it may become a topping for pork, chicken or even a cheesecake. Not sure yet.
I only started making my own jam this summer, and have been waiting until winter to try my first citrus marmalade. My boyfriend is not a citrus marmalade fan, so maybe just maybe I will be able to eat it all myself.
I’ve never made it but would love to try making it. In fact, i read your post about kumquat marmalade and wanted to try that but no kumquats yet.
I love marmalade, always have. I have not yet tried making it, as citrus hasn’t quite made it into season since I began my avocation of canning this past summer. Am looking forward to making some, and need to find some pretty, tiny jars to use for stocking stuffers for Christmas.
I have never made marmalade. But, I have had it and enjoyed it. I would so love to have this book. Thank you for the chance to win it.
I ♥ the marmalade.
I love it on hot crusty bread and with minced jalapenos on roasted shrimp
i love it but cant make it doesnot turn out right maybe this will help me
I just love marmalade. I actually made two marmalade preserves this year. A sugar beets marmalade ( http://lapetiteusine.ca/marmelade-de-betteraves-sucrieres/ ) and a cinderella pumpkin and ginger marmalade ( http://lapetiteusine.ca/aller-aux-pommes/ ). Here’s the links for the recipes <3 enjoy
Marmalade makes me think of two things: youth hosteling through Scotland in the late seventies (ah, youth!) and a series of funny little children’s books about a big orange cat named Marmalade that were a favorite of my now-grown daughter. Thanks for this opportunity. Going to pickle some beauty heart radishes now.
I have never made a marmalade. (Opening line to a dr. Suess book?)
However, I remember the first time I tasted that citrusy sweetness. I was 11 and we were visiting Disney’s new EPCOT center, open for less than a year. We were having breakfast at a spot in Disney World and I thought it strange to eat orange rinds. I tried it and found it to be surprisingly yummy. Then Minnie, Donald and Goofy came to our table and I promptly forgot about food.
As guest favors for our wedding this summer we prepared 60 glasses of marmalade. One of my favorite memories is not how pretty they looked on the tables, but being in the kitchen with my sister for hours prepping the fruit, stirring the pot and talking the whole time. We live on different continents and I will always remember our time spent together in the kitchen. The book would be a perfect gift for her to keep the memory.
Oh my, love, love, love marmalade on toast. It always seems like such a treat! And I love the recipe book! Yes please!
Mmmmmmm…marmalade. I have always been a big fan, even as a kid. In fact when I moved out of my house and was on my own for the first time at 17 I lived off cucumbers and English muffins with orange marmalade (store brand of course LOL). When I got into canning in 2011 marmalade was one of my first projects, recipe right from this very site.:-) The sight of the cookbook all about it elicited a squeal before I even saw the giveaway.
What a special book. My grandmother loved to make the most wonderful marmalade. I can’t eat toast or English muffins without thinking of her. She would always make sure we had our favourite type of marmalade, lemon-lime, orange, grapefruit or one of her many other sweet marmalade. I still have a few of her special jars and can feel her when I use them. Thanks for bring those treasured memories back.
My daughter and I are newly into canning and are using your book as our guide. Tomorrow we are trying Meyer Lemon marmalade. We all love marmalade! Chris.
One of the earliest things I canned was a batch of apple marmalade. It wasn’t one of my favorite flavor combinations, but when I told my mother that I was experimenting with canning, her eyes lit up, and she started telling me about her mother’s homemade apple marmalade. I haven’t made any marmalade since…and I’m not sure why, since I do love citrus.
I have not yet ever made a marmalade, but I’d sure like to change that!
I love marmalade and it was my late grandfather’s favorite. Can’t wait to start making some this winter….!
I like marmalade, and will need to make more of it soon: I have been using up a batch from several years ago that turned nearly rock solid after refusing to thicken. (In the end there was too much sugar, added in order to try and get the batch hot/thick enough to set properly… it’s a bit like condensed soup in that I can add nearly a jar full of water to thin it out to a reasonable consistency.)
Ooh wow what a beautiful book! I have tried making marmalade only once, with a mixture of orange and grapefruit. I’d love to try some other recipes. I’m also curious what your dragon fruit looked like. Here in China it’s pink and green outside and white with tiny black seeds inside, but looking for some in Virginia Beach a few years ago yielded a totally different fruit.
I *LOVE* marmalade! Right now, orange, specifically. I”ll take it over most other (fruited) spreads. Would love to win the book, and if not, may have to check it out on my own!
Sadly, I’ve never made marmalade but I really want to. I’m especially intereted in onion marmalade.
I’ve only ever had orange marmalade but I really like it. I want to start making marmalade and this book would be a great motivator.
I love marmalade, but have never tried to make it. I have made lots of jellies, jams and preserves, but no marmalade……..after seeing your pictures, I can’t wait to try!