General Chat

So, I have several old cookery books, and that is a big several. Anyway, in one of these said tomes, I have found a recipe for lemon marmalade.

As you all know, apart from Kay, I am a chucker and dolloper when it comes to cooking and when I make marmalade, I use a tidy few Sevilles and a great splosh of water.

This recipe involves eight lemons, which I have purchased and cut into thin slices as well as quartering them as instructed.

The next bit involves soaking the lemon slices in no less than NINE pints of water overnight.

After that, you cook the lemons until they are tender and leave it overnight again before you do the sugar bit.

I cut the lemons last night ad put them in my largest mixing bowl which was full after six pints. That looked right to me and I was not going to leave them in a metal preserving pan overnight but doesn't nine pints sound like an awful lot of water to you? It would fit into the preserving pan but I am currently simmering the lemons in six pints because I think it would come out as lemon squash if I followed the recipe.

What do you think please?

Not sure how much 8 lemons weigh - but I found this, that uses 6 pints

https://www.allotment-garden.org/recipe/1093/lemon-marmalade-recipe/

I was going to say surely it would depend on the size of the lemons?

9 pints ? That's over a gallon, which sounds a lot to me, but what do I know.

My Mum made marmalade each year and although I don't know her recipe, I never remember her needing a huge container to accommodate all that water.

Go with you instincts
I'd go with the idea that you could always add more water, but you can't easily take it out of your brew.

Can’t really say as I’ve never made it but I found an old recipe that suggests 6 lemons to 4.5 pints of water so 8 to 6 pints doesn’t sound too far out, but if you reduce the quantity of water would you need to reduce the sugar?

The only other thought I had is that lemons are high in pectin. Might it set a bit solid if there isn’t enough water. Slice of marmalade on your toast? :-)

It also says 6lb of sugar but I always do that by eye.

I have the lemons simmering in 6pts at the moment and it does smell gorgeous.

How did it turn out?

Good luck with the marmalade Sharron. Hope you let us know how it turns out. Can't offer any advice because I've never cooked it. Hope the "chucking" and "dolloping" works for you! ;-)

Does sound good doesn't it...

It might turn out to be a lemon

groan :-P

I used 6pts and didn't leave it to stand for another night and it is a bit tasty.

Thinking about it, I can't tell the age of the book but I think it is from oe side of te last war when the was a good deal of austerity. I think it might be a recipe designed to get as much as possible out of the ingredients. Leaving it for another night would have been to get as much flavour and pectin from the lemons.

Can't disapprove of that!

Brilliant!

I love marmalade yours sounds delicious wouldn't mind some of that :-D

Sharron ................... I have a Cannon Cook Book, published for use with a Cannon gas stove. We inherited it from the people from whom we bought our house in 1951.

I have the 11th edition, published in 1949. It was originally published in 1932 The recipe for Lemon marmalade was very similar to yours, with a little variation .......... 8 lemons, 6 pints cold water, and 1½ lbs sugar to each pint of pulp. It called for the lemons to be cut in half, juice squeezed out, then shred the rind thin. Put juice, rind and water in a preserving pan and let stand overnight. Boil until reduced by half, add sugar. Boil until jelling. It doesn't use the pulp.

It sounds like the same vintage as your recipe.

I like the sound of yours better!!

i had to tweak it though, didn't I?

Of course!

Like when I was knitting. I don't think I ever made anything exactly as the pattern said.

I always "personalized" it.

That's what you do with food :-D

Usually, I am rectifying cock-ups!

They're not 'cock ups', they're idiosyncratic :-D

I can spell 'cock-up'.