Yuzu Marmalade

Yuzu is citrus fruit found commonly in Japan during the winter months. It looks like a lemon but tastes like a cross between a lemon, an orange and a grapefruit. It's also not as firm as a lemon, it feels "spongy." The fruit is not eaten as it is full of seeds. Instead, the juice and peel are utilized. You can buy Yuzu in a variety of forms such as powder, juice, liquor, Ponzu sauce made with yuzu, Yuzu Marmalade, etc.... I have become fond of this Ginger Yuzu tea. It is currently my go to drink on chilly days.

It comes as a powder and I mix it with hot water. Some people take Yuzu Marmalade and mix it with hot water to create a tea. I have tried making it that way (and it does taste good) but I do not enjoy the texture of the pieces of fruit that float around my drink. The Starbucks here make a Yuzu citrus tea drink with yuzu marmalade as one of the ingredients. I really like the tea from Starbucks. Since I only notice the fruit chunks as I am finishing the drink, I just don't drink every last drop.

I decided making Yuzu Marmalade would be a good way to introduce it to you. Since I needed a base line to judge my success/failure I bought some pre-made at the local farmer's market.

I found a promising recipe on the Just One Cookbook Blog Site, here is the link: https://www.justonecookbook.com/yuzu-marmalade/

Four yuzu seemed like a reasonable number to start with. I cut them into quarters.

I removed the seeds by hand and put them in a separate container. I manually squeezed out as much of the juice as I could into a strainer placed over a bowl. You want to keep the juice. The strainer caught a few of the seeds I had missed. The skin tore easily, I was surprised how delicate the skin was. I then separated the remaining pulp from the skins by simply pulling it out. It was very easy to separate. I put everything into separate piles.

I cut the skins into thin strips while I cooked the pulp in boiling water for 10 minutes.

I then alternated boiling and draining the skin and the pulp every 10 minutes . The original recipe says the more you boil them the less bitter the marmalade will be. I boiled the skins and pulp twice for a total of 20 minutes each. Once I was done with boiling everything I roughly chopped the pulp up to break up any large pieces. I then used my kitchen scale to weigh the juice, pulp and skin. The next step is to measure out sugar to equal half of what the juice, pulp and skin weighed. (For example: If the pulp, juice and skin weigh 300 grams then you want to use 150 grams of sugar.). The seeds were not weighed but I did put them into a cheesecloth bag. The seeds will provide the pectin for the marmalade. Into a large pot went the seeds, juice, skins and pulp. I then added just enough water to cover them.

The mixture was allowed to gently boil until it started to thicken up when a small amount was placed onto a cold plate. In the meantime, I cleaned the canning supplies. I had picked up some cute half pint jars. I don't have a proper canning set up so I used a metal apple corer/slicer to keep the jar elevated from the bottom of the pot and prepared one jar at a time.

I put the apple slicer and jar into a pot and filled it half way up the outside of the jar with water. I tried to keep the water somewhere between warm and a low simmer. Once the marmalade was ready I pulled the jar out of the water with tongs and put the warm marmalade into the jar. I left about 1/4in of space a the top. I then put the lid on but only lightly hand tightened it. The jar was placed back into the warm water bath and more water was added until the water level was about an inch above the jar. The heat was turned up to a rolling boil for 10 minutes before I removed the jar and started the process over again with the next jar. I heard the lid 'pop' about 15 minuted after removing the jar from the water. The popping indicated that a jar was appropriately sealed. I was able to fill 2 half pint jars with marmalade from the 4 Yuzu fruits. I left the finished jars on the counter overnight. In the morning I checked the seals once more and they were deemed a canning success. But how did it taste?

The store bought marmalade had a burnt orange flavor. My marmalade had more of a vague slightly bitter citrus flavor. Both tasted good when made into tea...but that darn pulp is annoying to drink! I know it is common for marmalade to have an underlying bitter flavor, but I am not a fan of it. I will try boiling the pulp and skin three times next time. For dinner that night I made a citrus glazed chicken breast with my marmalade. The glaze turned out OK, but felt like it was missing something. The recipe is going to require some fine tuning. I am looking forward to continuing to experiment with the marmalade. ...maybe with cookies? ...or simply on top of a biscuit? Decisions, decisions...

In the middle of putting this post together we found Yuzu liquor at Costco. It must have been my lucky day because they were also giving out free samples. I am officially in trouble. It's 10% alcohol and tastes like lemonade. I couldn't resist and brought a bottle home.

If you didn't follow the link above. Here is the recipe for Yuzu Marmalade:

Yuzu Marmalade

Ingredients:

Yuzu - you will need to judge how many to buy based on how much marmalade you hope to make, 4 fruits yielded just under one pint of marmalade for me this time

Sugar - amount will vary, about 1/2 the weight of the yuzu you purchased

Water

Instructions:

1) Wash the Yuzu and cut into quarters, removing any bad portions.

2) Remove seeds and place them in a cheesecloth bag.

3) Sqeeze fruit into a strainer placed over a bowl. This will collect the juice in the bowl and trap any seeds or pulp that fall out in the strainer.

4) Separate the peel from the pulp.

5) Simmer the pulp in a large pot of water for 10 minutes.

6) While the pulp is cooking slice the skins thinly.

7) Once the pulp is done pour the pot over a strainer to let the water drain away.

8) Simmer the skins in a large pot of water for 10 minutes and then drain as you did the pulp.

8a) Repeat simmering and draining steps 5, 7, and 8 two to three more times if you desire a less bitter marmalade.

9) Chop the pulp into small pieces.

10) Weigh the skin, pulp, and juice. Measure out enough sugar to equal half the the weight of the skin, pulp and juice. (Ex- If the yuzu parts weigh 300g then measure out 150g of sugar)

11) Place the skin, pulp. juice, sugar, and seeds into a large pot. Add just enough water to cover everything.

12) Simmer for 30-40minutes, until the marmalade thickens. You can put some on a cold plate to better evaluate the consistency as it will be thicker cold than when hot.

13) Remove and discard the bag of seeds once desired consistency is reached.

14) IF you plan to can some of the marmalade then while it is simmering clean your canning jars and lids,

14a) Place the jars and lids in hot water for >/= 10 minutes.

14b) Remove jars and lids from the water bath.

14c) Place the warm marmalade in the warm jars. Leave a 1/4in space at the top of the jar. Apply the lid

14d) Place the jar into a large pot with a rack or a spacer to keep the jar from touching the bottom of the pot. Fill the pot with water until it covers the top of the jar by 1 inch.

14e) Bring the water to a boil for 10 minutes.

14f) Remove jars from the water and let sit for 12 hours.

14g) Test the seal on the jars. If any are not sealed then place them in the fridge and eat soon. Sealed jars can go in the pantry are are stable until opened or up to 1 year.