Satsuma Marmalade

4 from 2 votes

Satsuma Marmalade is a low-sugar cooked marmalade made with Pomona’s Universal Pectin. Pomona’s Pectin contains no sugar or preservatives and jells reliably with low amounts of any sweetener.

We thank Jo-Ann Monconduit of Jo’s Jellies in New Orleans for sending us this recipe. She found it on the Culicurious Blog, but wanted a low-sugar version, so we converted it to a Pomona’s Pectin recipe for her. When we tried it, we couldn’t help but exclaim –Best Marmalade Ever!

Servings cups

Ingredients

1 pound Satsumas preferably organic as you will be eating the peel
3 cups water
2 teaspoons calcium water see step #1
¼ cup Meyer lemon juice
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar plus more if needed after pectin is dissolved – we used 1¼ cups total
3 teaspoons Pomona’s Pectin mixed with sweetener

Instructions

Before you begin, prepare calcium water.
To do this, combine ½ teaspoon calcium powder (in the small packet in your box of Pomona’s pectin) with ½ cup water in a small, clear jar with a lid. Shake well.
Extra calcium water should be stored in the refrigerator for future use.
Prepare boiling water canner. Heat jars in simmering water until ready for use. Wash lids and bands and set aside.
Wash and peel Satsumas. Set the peels aside. Once all the satsumas are peeled (there is no need to scrape the white off the peel) julienne all the peels and measure 1 packed cup of thinly sliced peel. Set aside for now.
Over a bowl, so as not to lose any of the juice, cut each section of the peeled Satsumas in half and remove any seeds; sometimes even seedless Satsumas do have seeds. Also remove some of the stringy white threads that cling to the fruit if there are a lot of them. You should have about 1½ cups of pulp and juice.
Once the seeds are removed, add the pulp and juice to a food processor and pulse 5 times to break up membranes and any remaining pith.
Measure 1 cup of the pulsed pulp and juice into a sauce pan. Add the julienned peels and the 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Continue to simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Remove from heat.
Measure 4 cups of fruit mixture and return the measured quantity to the sauce pan. If you are a little bit short, add water to bring up to 4 cups.
Add calcium water, lemon juice, ginger, cardamom, and vanilla extract, and mix well.
Measure 1 cup sugar into a bowl. Thoroughly mix pectin powder into sugar. Set aside.
Bring fruit mixture to a full boil. Add pectin-sugar mixture, stirring vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes to dissolve the pectin while the marmalade comes back up to a boil. Once the marmalade returns to a full boil, remove it from the heat and taste. If the sweetness is right for you, go on to Step 12 below.
If you want it to be sweeter, you can add more sugar now. Turn on the heat, stir in the new sugar and bring the mixture back to a full boil. Turn off heat.
Remove hot jars from canner and fill jars with (marmalade/jam/jelly), leaving ¼ inch of headspace. Remove trapped air bubbles, wipe rims and put on lids and screw bands, tightening bands only to “fingertip tight” (until resistance is met, and then just the tiniest bit more).
Place jars in the hot water, on the rack inside the canner. (Make sure jars are upright, not touching each other or the sides of the canner, and are covered with at least 1-2 inches of water). Place the lid on the canner, bring the canner to a rolling boil, and boil for 10 minutes. (Add 1 minute additional processing time for every 1000 feet above sea level.)
Turn off heat and allow canner and jars to sit for 5 minutes. Then, remove jars from canner. Allow jars to cool undisturbed for 12-24 hours. Then, confirm that jars have sealed, then store properly. Eat within 1 year. Lasts 3 weeks once opened.