Before I get to today’s post, I just wanted to give a heartfelt thank you to everyone who commented on my last post. It’s great to be part of such a fantastic blogging community – you are all so wonderful!
This is my first post for the Tigress’ Can Jam, which I am very excited to be a part of. After having so much fun canning for the first time this past Christmas, I knew I was hooked…so when I saw some of my fellow bloggers tweeting about a new canning group, I immediately found out the details and joined – and you can, too! Canning isn’t nearly as intimidating as I thought it would be. This month’s theme was citrus, so I made lemon-vanilla marmalade, even though I’ve never made marmalade before in my life. And, I didn’t even need any pectin! Here’s what you’ll need:
- 2 1/2 lbs lemons (about 9 lemons)
- 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
- 5 cups water
- 4 1/4 cups sugar
First, you’ll need to cut up your lemons. But before you do, please make sure you don’t have any small cuts on your hands. I had a paper cut on one of my fingers, and man, did that juice STING.
Quarter the lemons and then cut them in half, de-seeding them along the way.
In a large pot, toss in the lemons, water, and scrapings from the vanilla bean. Cover and bring to a boil; then simmer for 2 hours or until the fruit is tender. In the meantime, prepare your canning supplies. Sterilize the canning jars by running them in almost boiling water for several minutes. Boil a few cups of water in a small saucepan for the lids.
When the fruit is very tender, stir in the sugar and simmer until all of the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat again and boil another 5-10 minutes until the setting point is reached (around 220 degrees - you can tell it’s ready because the liquid will get “wrinkly”).
Remove the pot from the heat and skim off any foam from the top of the liquid. Let cool for a few minutes and then pour it into your food processor (you don’t have to do this step, but did because I wanted smaller chunks). Give it a few pulses and then pour it back into the pot.
Pour the marmalade into sterilized jars and then place the lids on top. Place the full jars back into the boiling water and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from the water and let the jars cool. The seals should suck down (you’ll hear a popping noise as it does).
Makes eight 8-ounce jars.
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My PIL makes all sorts of jams out of fruits. 
Can’t wait to try my hand at making it. Thanks!
