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
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 love marmalade!! But my attempt last winter to make vanilla meyer lemon marmalade was disgusting. I did do the FIJ kumquat one from last January sucessfully.
It’s all about Meyer lemons. I took a marmalade making class a few months ago, and I have been giving it as gifts ever since. I make tangerine for my aunt, and she likes to share a little bit of it with her colleagues, then when they ask where it’s from, smile and say “Oh, I’m sorry. It’s VERY small batch.”
I love marmalade! I’ve loved it my whole life, but very few people in my family and friends share that love so I haven’t had it in the last 10 years or so. The cookbook looks delightful and might change my husband’s mind about marmalade. I find he changes his mind about preserves and pestos when its homemade with fresh ingredients and more to his taste!
I like marmalade…I want to make some, but do you need to use organic fruit to do so? I would love a copy of the book; it looks lovely!
What a unique book! It’s beautiful. My grandfather used to ALWAYS eat marmalade. Orange marmalade. It’s the only thing he would ever eat on his toast. My grandmother would buy us either strawberry or raspberry jam for our toast, but grandpa would never touch it. I remember trying the marmalade on my toast to change things up, and while I never took to it as a child, I now crave it as an adult. Weird, right? I actually just made my first batch of homemade marmalade last Christmas, and honestly, it was pure bliss. I would love to win this book. Thank you so much for the opportunity to win!
I have not made any yet, but am excited to try this winter!!
I did not grow up eating marmalade. Welch’s grape jelly and the homemade sour cherry jam my mom made every June where about all I tasted until I was an adult. Luckily my taste has matured and the offerings at Farmers’ Market continue to delight and surprise me. And I do love orange marmalade on toasted English muffins.
I love marmalade! And I made zucchini orange marmalade this season. So, so good! I would love to try some of these recipes–they look fabulous!
For my first foray into canning, I tried making a GIANT batch of marmalade from the oranges on the tree in the yard of our rental house. Needless to say, the combination of huge batch size and inexperience meant things turned out very poorly. I’ve had better luck with kumquat and lemon marmalades since, but the smell of orange marmalade still takes me back to that first canning disaster.
I have only ever had the nasty store bought orange marmelade. I would love to try and make some myself!
I love making marmalade! I have found that adding a small proportion of kumquats adds a nice bright juicyness to regular seville marmalade. (Around here, kumquats are way too expensive for a kumquat marmalade.)
This book is so beautiful & inviting! I have yet to make a homemade marmalade, but would love to give it a try. I’ve been looking for some additional winter canning inspiration, this just might be it!
Although I have been canning for many years I have never made marmalade and would love to learn about it, I have only ever had orange, I think it would be fun to experiment.
I think my favorite recipe is your tomato jam just love it.
oh, i love marmalade, and i just got a bunch of tangerines from my neighbor’s tree today!
I love marmalade, but after a badly failed attempt at making grapefruit marmalade, I’d a little nervous to try it again. Actually, I still have the jars of seriously overcooked marmalade sitting on the shelf. It’s so stiff you can stand a knife up in it! Not sure what to do with it now…
I LOVE the idea of a dragonfruit marmalade! Not sure that it’s something that Paddington Bear would covet, but who cares about him anyway? 🙂
Yes! This would be a most welcomed addition to my cookbook shelf! I’m really not familiar with marmalade and living so close to the citrus-producing part of the US, that seems like a damn shame.
I love marmalade—I always think of it as jam for grown-ups, because of its slightly bitter tang (and sometimes, whisky content). A toasted English muffin with butter and Seville orange marmalade makes a perfect breakfast. Not crazy about the process of thinly slicing all that orange rind, though. I have been known to use a tin of pre-prepared “marmalade mix”, containing the cut-up fruit, to shortcut this step (it’s sold in grocery stores in Canada).
There is a restaurant in Vancouver, British Columbia, called Marmalade. They serve, and sell by the jar, a marmalade that contains cranberries. Memorable. I keep searching for a recipe that could be the best attempt to duplicate it.
I like to make jams and jelly. I have yet to make Marmalade, but this looks like a very good book to get a person started. I used to have tea with a neighbor of mine and she served marmalade with different breads. It took me a while at first, but I grew to love the taste of marmalade.
My grandma was a master at making marmalade! I have never been brave enough to try it, but its on my list of things to do…
I tried making marmalade for the first time last winter. I used your three citrus marmalade recipe and ran out of it by May. I’m very much looking forward to citrus season this winter so I can stockpile some more marmalade.
My only marmalade turned meat rub. Marmalade porn like this might inspire me to give it another go!
I love using marmalade in chicken recipes. It always add a bit of yumminess to it!
I love marmalade and it’s on my list of things to master over the winter. This book sounds like it would be perfect to help me succeed!
I adore marmalade. I am not sure why I love the bitterness of citrus peel, but I do. Fortunately, it is easy to have access to all kinds of citrus in Florida for marmalade making!
I have never made marmalade but this looks like the perfect book to inspire me
I have to admit I have never had marmalade. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest we have lots of berries so my mom always made jam with them. I put up my fair share of jelly, wild blackberry being my favorite. Those marmalades look delicious and worth trying to track down fresh citrus in the soggy winter. I’ve been looking for a new canning challenge after finishing up all of my ‘normal’ things… applesauce, tomatoes, stone friut, and a few new things… venison, rendering bear lard-yes it makes wonderful baked goods : )
My favorite recipe is for peach-cantaloupe marmalade, a recipe I found in a 1922 Canadian government publication from my grandmother. I make it every few years, but only when both the farmers market peaches and cantaloupes are excellent.
The photos in this book are lovely and I can’t wait to start making some marmalades,
they are like beautiful jewels. Thanks for sharing, Marisa!
I love marmalades and always wanted to make a meyer lemon one. Now this would really help me start.
What a beautiful book. I have only tried marmalade a few times and it has been a sucess 2 out of the 3 times I tried. I did a peach marmalade that was wonderful but lost the recipe I tried so I tried again with another recipe and it was nowhere near as flavourful. I have also made a basic orange marmalade that was great ande will try again next year.
Love marmalade! I usually purchase the orange marmalade from Bonne Maman but it would be so cool to make my own!
I am not a marmalade fan, but my mother in law is and I have promised myself that I will make her some for Christmas. She is 92 and lives alone in the house she and her husband built nearly 60 years ago, in which she raised 5 children, and where we have spent uncountable holidays filled with food, wine, children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Unfortunately her eyesight is going and she will be moving out. This will be the last holiday season for her there and we want to make it particularly special. Marmalade seems like the perfect gift for the occasion — bittersweet.
I don’t normally make marmalade but would love to start!
I have never made marmalade, but this book has inspired me.
I made marmalade in February for the first time. The second try, with kumquats and ground coriander, was one of the best things I’ve ever made. The first try was a three-citrus marmalade that I totally overcooked. Coincidentally, just this week I decided that Something Must Be Done to re-purpose that glue-like attempt. I loosened it up with orange juice and rum. I don’t know what I’m going to do with it yet, it’ll probably go into cookies or a quickbread.
My granny made marmalade, and while she was no longer alive by the time I started, I searched the internet for a recipe that came from the same region as her. My standard home marmalade tastes like hers does. A close friend of mine lives in California, and when I went to visit last year I discovered that she has both an orange tree and a meyer lemon tree in her back yard – the fruit was literally dripping off the trees. I made a “wiskey orange” marmalade and a “backyard meyer lemon” while I was there, and both were delicious. She was a bit amazed with the whole process (she had never canned before) but delighted with the results.
I continue to make marmalade and hunt down meyer lemons. They are a bit hard to get here, and the season is short, but oh so good.
I love marmalades, especially when they’re boozy and citrusy and spread on toast.
I decided to try making marmalade last year because I wanted to try canning something new. I made Kumquat Habenero marmalade and it was so good! I’d love to try some other kinds!
I don’t think I’ve ever had it, but I’d love to try!
My mum is a huge marmalade fan. For Christmas one year I decided to make her a big batch of Seville orange marmalade, 12 jars – one jar for each month of the following year. I also designed my own labels using images of Bauhaus architecture. She absolutely loved it!
I would love an inspiration to experiment with new marmalade flavours for her!
I’ve never made marmalade, but would love to give it a whirl. My biggest worry is trying to source ingredients in Cincinnati, OH. The book looks gorgeous!
I’m Irish! Of course I love marmalade. My breakfast most mornings is a cup of tea (Irish tea of course courtesy of my mom) and two slices of Publix Stone Mountain Bread with butter and marmalade. We have this marmalade at home that my mom brings with her when she visits that is made with whiskey:) It’s very good. I must admit though, whilst I make jams and jellies every year, I have yet to make a marmalade. I did want to try Seville Marmalade one year but try and find Seville Oranges in Georgia! Next to impossible.
I’ve never attempted to make it, but we are fans here. It’s definitely on my list of things to try to make!
I love the idea and look of marmalade, but haven’t made it yet because it seems too involved. I think I’m ready to give it a try though- especially if I have such a beautiful book to guide me!
I love marmalade but never got around to making any. It is beautiful looking in a jar. And the process seems like creating art…in a way. I guess alot of canning is like that.
I like marmalade, but have yet to make any. I’d love to get some recipes and get started on a new project!
Have only had the boring, grocery store orange marmelade. I have always had, in the back of my mind, the smallest urge to try and make some myself, because I know home made is always better than store bought. But haven’t gotten past my fear of failure to go forth with my urges. Maybe this beautiful book would be just the thing to get me going.
I honestly have not been a huge marmalade fan until recently. Years ago I tried canning marmalade and it turned out very syrupy. Of course I ended up using it and giving it by calling it “Orange Ham Glaze”. It was a huge hit, but I was discouraged and didn’t try making it again until a year ago when I found some very nice Blood Oranges (an extreme rarity in Central MS). I tried making marmalade again and it turned out perfect! I have since made it several times, all to the joy of my friends and family. The favorite way by far to eat it is as a topping for cheese blintzes. There’s something to be said for that sweet, tart, creamy delight!