Raspberry grapefruit marmalade is beautiful to look at and the flavor pops. Make your morning routine a little brighter by topping your toast or biscuits with this delicious treat!
My son, Tim, has always loved grapefruit. I mean this kid lives for it. He even loved it as a baby. The problem was his little digestive system wasn’t ready for it. He’d cry if we ate grapefruit in front of him. so we had to eat our grapefruit in secret.
We always buy big bags of grapefruit when they’re in season. It’s a little expensive even here in Texas. So when I saw a little grapefruit tree for five dollars at our local grocery store, I snagged it.
The tree sat in a pot for a few years and then I planted it in the ground. It’s on the side of my house so it’s kind of hidden. While I was in Cambodia, this little tree shot up. It’s now as tall as my house and it’s producing grapefruit like crazy.
I lost count this year of how many I collected this year. It was probably around 400. I gave some away to neighbors and friends but there was still way too much to eat.
So it was time to make some marmalade. To use the grapefruit’s natural pectin, you put all the membranes and seeds in a cheesecloth bag and boil that with the juice. Letting the pectin filled peel, bag and fruit sit overnight is key. The first time I tried this, I didn’t know to do that and I had marmalade syrup instead of jam.
Raspberries have some natural pectin and they go so well with citrus that I decided to try a raspberry grapefruit marmalade.
Yield: 9 1/2 pints
Raspberry Grapefruit Marmalade
Tangy raspberry grapefruit marmalade has amazing flavor and the flavor will brighten up your morning!
Prep Time1 hour
Cook Time1 hour45 minutes
Additional Time8 hours
Total Time10 hours45 minutes
Ingredients
4 cups grapefruit juice with as much pulp as possible
4 cups fresh raspberries
4 cups sugar
4 cups water
Peel from 16 grapefruit
Instructions
Wash your grapefruit. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the peel from your grapefruit. You only want to take off the outer layer (not the white pith below the peel).
Section the grapefruit. Place the fruit in a measuring cup and place the membranes and seeds on a sheet of cheesecloth. Tie the ends of the cheesecloth to make a bag around the seeds and membranes.
Put the grapefruit peel, raspberries, water, grapefruit juice and cheesecloth bag in a large, heavy pot and let sit for at least 8 hours.
Bring the pot to a boil and boil for 40 minutes. While the mixture boils, place the sugar in a baking dish and warm in the oven at 325°F. Place a plate in the freezer.
While the juice is boiling, you can prepare sterile jars if you want to store your marmalade outside the refrigerator. Place jars and lids in a pot filled with water above the level of the jars. Bring to a boil and boil for 20 minutes. Keep the jars in the hot water until you're ready to fill them.
Remove the cheesecloth bag from the boiling mixture and squeeze out as much of the liquid from it as possible. Return the liquid to the pot.
Add the warmed sugar to the boiling juices. I turned my heat down a little at this point but you want a rolling boil. STIR the mixture continuously while it boils for 20 more minutes or until the temperature is 220°F (104°C).
Test to see if the mixture is ready by dropping about a dime-sized drop on your frozen plate. Wait a minute and then run your finger through the middle of the drop. If the liquid separates so the middle is clean and wrinkles at the end below your finger, then your marmalade is ready. You can also test the temperature. 219°F -220°F will give you the brightest citrus flavor but will still be a bit runny. 221°- 222° F will have a more bitter flavor but will be more solid.
Remove the jars from the hot water and fill to 1/4 inch from the top. Use sterile equipment to fill your jars if you are keeping your marmalade outside the refrigerator. To completely sterilize, twist the rim of the ball jar until it's finger tight (you want air to escape when you boil them). Place jars in a pot of boiling water that is at least 2 inches above the level of the jars. Boil half pint jars for 20 minutes. Remove, let cool and then tighten the rings completely.
