Lime Cilantro Marmalade - an award winner
/I have been kind of quiet for these past few weeks. There were a combination of factors that led to this silence. Let's start with the most obvious; winter. Yes, I am afraid I was wintered out. The below average temperatures and the dull grey sky and the snow had rendered me without words.
The second thing that kept me from my computer is the sad fact, that three weeks ago we had to put our big ol' beautiful Bull Mastiff 'Betty Boo' down. The loss of her really stole all my energy. It was a struggle just getting used to how quiet our house now is and to be honest, I couldn't face sitting down and talking about it or even worse - not talking about it and acting like everything was normal on this side of the fence.
The last contributing factor is that my husband and I decided almost over night that we had to escape the house and this never ending winter and we booked a last minute trip down south. We spent a week lounging in the sun, snorkelling, eating, reading our books and trying to put some distance between the lack of Betty Boo and ourselves.
So now we are back and on a somewhat sunny Sunday I find myself sitting here looking at the cilantro that has been growing from seed on my windowsill and I feel inspired and once again full of words. It is going to be a slow recovery, but we will just take it one step at a time ;).
Last year, I was experimenting in the kitchen making some lime marmalade, which is one of my favourites (there are so many) and I wanted to create something sweet that would be tasty in a fish taco but that wasn't salsa. Out of this day in the kitchen, lime cilantro marmalade was born. This won a 2nd place in Mad for Marmalade and I knew I had a winner.
Photo credit: Sarah B. Hood
Lime Cilantro Marmalade (2nd place winner at Mad for Marmalade)
Ingredients
1 cup of lime peel zest
1 cup water
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (strained)
1 cup water
2 1/2 cups lime segments
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
5 cups sugar
1 - 3oz liquid pectin
2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
Instructions
In a bowl combine the 1 cup of lime zest with 1 cup of water and stir to cover zest completely. Soak for 10-15 minutes, drain and discard the water.
In a medium sized pan, combine the peel with the strained lime juice and add 1 cup of water. Using medium-high heat, bring to a boil. Reduce the heat once a boil has been achieved, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the lime segments and lime juice. Cover and continue to simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
Remove the cover, stir in the sugar and continue to stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.
Return the heat to medium-high and stirring constantly, bring the contents to a full rolling boil. Stir in the 3oz of liquid pectin and return to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute. Remove your pan from the heat and skim off any foam.
Quickly stir in the cilantro and allow the marmalade to cool for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Ladle your marmalade into previously sterilized jars leaving 1/4" headspace. Wipe the rims and threads and apply lids and screw rings. Process in a 200F water bath for 10 minutes.
Yields approximately 6 - 250ml jars
