Grapefruit Bounty

The neighbour's again had another bountiful harvest from their grapefruit tree & post our annual Mid Winter Christmas Shindig half the street had a bag of these golden gems.

What to do with them? Even with my plethora of books on pickling, preserving & pretty nifty google skills there would appear to be few recipes for using a whole heap of grapefruits.

So it was back to the tried & tested from Jams & Chutneys - Preserving the Harvest by Thane Price. A marvellous little book all seasonally arrange. The pineapple & red onion relish is delicious plus some great vinegars.
Back to the mountain of grapefruit & a great recipe for Pink Grapefruit Marmalade. Only slightly tweaked here as I had regular grapefruit & used a little less sugar as I prefer a tarter jam & happy just to spend a little longer to set to get that tang,,for me that makes it a great marmalade.

The recipe will make about 1.6kg or 3.5lbs & will keep for a year (at least! I still have some of last year's batch & all good!) Though this year's batch once distributed around the neighbours & a flat mate, Teresa, who has fallen in love with it. The recipe also calls for some lemons & very happy to have a great crop myself this year.

So here is the recipe, a little prep required with the overnight soaking but well worth it for these jewel like jars sweet, yet tart, deliciousness.

Pink Grapefruit Marmalade
 
Ingredients
 
3 pink or red fleshed grapefruits ( I used regular)
2 large lemons scrubbed
1.35kgs (3lbs) white granulated sugar (I used 1.2kgs)



Directions

Cut the fruit & half & squeeze out all the juice & strain in to a large bowl. Reserve the pips & store juice & pips in fridge until needed.
Using a sharp knife, cut the shells of the grapefruit & lemons into fine shreds. (Or as chunky or less chunky as you like in your marmalade - for as long as I can remember I loved Mum' marmalade but did not like "the bits"! So for me it is quite a fin chop!) Put these in a large china or glass bowl & cover with 1.5 litres (2 3/4 pints) of water & leave to soak for 24 hours.
Tie the reserved pips in a muslin bag (Or gauze from the chemist works too). Put the fruit & water in to a preserving pan with the reserved juices & the bag of pips. Bring to the boil& simmer for 60 minutes until the peel is very soft. You should be able to cut it easily with a wooden spoon.
Stir in the sugar & simmer over a low heat until it has dissolved. If any scum rises the the surface, skim it off. You may need to do this several times. Now increase the heat & cook at a full rolling boil for 20-30 minutes & then test for a set. It took me a little longer with less sugar but worth the wait.
When it has reached setting point,,,,,put a little on a cold saucer & leave for a moment & then check with your finger to see if it wrinkles,,,if it does you are set!
Once you have reached setting point let it sit for 5 minutes & then pot into sterilized jars, seal & label.

Still a bowl of grapefruit so going to try & preserve them,,,,after discussions with one of the neighbours if one can preserve lemons in salt why not grapefruit?