Citrus Marmalade

Winter is my favorite season for many reasons. Sweaters being one. Tea and warm drinks being another. And yet a third is citrus! I think mother nature knew how tough she was being on us earth dwellers when she created winter and thought "well, I should give them something to perk them up amongst all that snow and cold!" And thus, we have winter citrus!

To make the most of the vast quantities of grapefruits, lemons and oranges I've been keeping around the house this month, I decided to do a little winter canning. Luckily, Food in Jars (one of my favorite foodie blogs) happened to have a post on a delightful Three Citrus Marmalade.

Recipe in hand, I went about painstakingly peeling the zest from the fruit, then removing the piths, then supreming each piece of fruit. Not easy, let me tell you.

Everything was going according to plan until I reached, um, the first step. My zest was not steeping properly! Trying to be patient, I gave it some more time in the pot and my liquid, instead of remaining at 6 cups (since I added 6 cups of water to the zest) actually only resulted in 4 cups. How exactly I went negative at this point alluded me. Then I realized I probably cut the zest too thick - I included too much pith which actually absorbed the liquid rather than just flavor it! Step 1 = FAIL.

Well, this put me on a foul course for the rest of my canning session. Rather than the recommended 30-40 minute reducing period, I needed to leave my final marmalade mixture on the heat for over an hour and still didn't meet the "sticky test requirements" the recipe provides. Alas, this was the night of friends coming over for Couscous so I ran out of time when they arrived and just said the hell with it and put it in jars.

My marmalade is definitely not as thick as it should be, but I think with a few months on the shelf it will firm up quite a bit. Alas, a canning disaster. But it looks pretty, right? Sometimes pretty is more than enough.

So I had a bunch of jalapenos laying around...

I have a love of spicy things. Not just hot, but like blow your socks off hot. Caliente, in fact.

So, of course, it makes it impossible not to buy jalapenos whenever I'm at the Korean market. They're always fresh, glossy and oh so cheap. Last week I bought a bag of about 20 for around 80 cents. A good Jewish girl can always find the best deal on Mexican foods, especially in K-town.

I bought the jalapenos with the intention of making a childhood favorite, hot pepper jelly. Spicy and sweet and a bright green color, I've been addicted since I was a child. I blame my grandmother.

Anyway, I didn't feel like getting out the canning gear today so I hunted down an easier, quicker recipe online. Emeril Lagasse's green chili sauce seemed to do the trick, and was easy as can be.

I diced up all 20 jalapenos along with a small white onion and a few cloves of garlic. Sauteed in a large pan with some oil and salt, I then added water before they could get any color. Letting the mixture cook down for about 20 minutes, I started coughing. Why am I coughing, I thought? Oh, that's right, there's the incredible spice of 20 jalapenos boiling away on my counter. I actually had to leave the room a few times just to breathe.

Peppers in Progress

After 20 minutes, the jalapenos mellowed in color and I left them to cool while I went rearranging my succulent nation (more pics on that soon, totally unrelated to food, of course).

Once cooled, I put the mixture in my fabulous food processor (thank you, Luisa!) and dribbled in a cup of white vinegar as it churned.

Then, I just poured it all (now a fine saucy liquid) into a clean glass jar and placed it in the fridge. Now, I actually don't get to enjoy my hot sauce just yet. Emeril recommends I leave it in the fridge for at least two weeks to develop the flavor, and any man that virtually trademarks the phrase "bam!" is probably a good one to follow.

The finished product! A whole quart

I'll report back in a few weeks when my sauce has "matured" and, lucky me, I probably will never need to buy hot sauce again. My 80 cents may be saving my tens of dollars in the future!

NOTE: Do not put on gardening gloves soon after handling jalapenos. The capsicum (the chemical in chilies that makes them hot) seeped into my pores as the heat of the glove warmed my skin. I have had a burning right hand all day. Not like "oh, that burns", more like "oh, that f***ing burns and throbs and oh my god make it stop!" Good times.