Here's how to make either a marvelous lemon or orange marmalade without adding sugar or sugar substitutes that have had reported cases of problems. Also check out the recipe at, Lemon Marmalade - Sugar Free Recipe - Food.com - 338355. You can use stevia instead of other sweeteners mentioned in the recipes for no-sugar marmalade.
It's best to make all-fruit marmalade without adding sweeteners. There's enough natural sugars in dried fruit to add sweetness without adding artificial sweeteners. You might also be interested in the recipe site, No-Added-Sugar Pear Lemon Jam — And a Book Giveaway. Also see, Meyer Lemon Marmalade Recipe | Simply Recipes.
Check out the sites, Cooks.com - Recipes - Sugar Free Lemon Jam and Lemon Marmalade Recipe. For orange marmalade recipes, check out the sites, Seville Orange Marmalade Recipe | Simply Recipes (uses lots of table sugar) and for fig jam see the site, How to make Fig Jam - easily! With step by step photos, recipe.
Orange Marmalade Recipe
For orange marmalade, a simple recipe is to slice sweet oranges in thin wheels. For every 4 C. thinly sliced oranges, add 2 thinly sliced lemons and 3 C. water. (Remember to discard the seeds.) Boil for 5 minutes and let stand overnight in a cool place. Boil 1 hour and let stand again for 4 hours.
Most recipes will tell you to add 6 cups of sugar and boil until mixture sheets off of a spoon. Then add 1/2 C. lemon juice, pour into jars and seal, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Why would you add 6 cups of sugar to orange marmalade when you can add a pinch of stevia instead?
Lemon Marmalade Recipe
Juice lemons and peel off the thin, yellow skin. Simmer 1 3/4 cups of peeled lemons in 1/2 cup of lemon juice and 1/2 cup of water for 25 minutes. Add 1 1/2 cups of additional lemon juice and a pinch of stevia to sweeten to taste. Traditional recipes also tell you to add 6 cups of sugar.
Why add sugar to your food and eat those empty calories? Instead just use a pinch of stevia to sweeten and keep your fruit marmalades low on the Glycemic Index. Stir and bring to a rolling boil.
Remove from heat and let stand overnight, in a covered bowl, in a cool place. Once again, boil mixture and add 3 ounces of liquid pectin. Boil until mixture sheets off of a spoon, skim off foam, pour into jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace, and seal. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.
Lime Marmalade
You can use the lemon marmalade recipe for lime marmalade. But think about what you'll use as a sweetener for marmalade that's healthiest for you. Most of the traditional recipes call for 6 cups of sugar and some recipes call for synthetic sweeteners. But you can substitute stevia or raisin juice.
If you cook raisins in a litter water, the water will be sweet. You could sweeten that way or just pinch a small amount of stevia powder and add it to taste. You only need a tiny amount of stevia to sweeten.
Other sites may offer lime jam or lemon jam for sale. But what you want is the recipe to make your own marmalade the way you want it, not with a lot of sugar or synthetic sweeteners. You can use the recipes without the sugar. Just use the fruit and fruit juice instead of adding sugar. If you need more sweet, add dried fruit to your jam or marmalade. Jam usually is clear.
Jelly often has seeds. And marmalade has the skin or zest of the lemon or orange in it, just a bit, as it can be bitter. If you're putting any orange or lemon zest into your marmalade, be sure to use organic fruit and make sure the labels are peeled off and the fruit skin is clean. Make sure you take out all the seeds. You can turn most fruits or even mixtures of vegetables and fruits into a jam, jelly, marmalade, or fruit butter.
If you make marmalade with sugar, you'd have to learn the correct ratio of fruit to sugar to adjust the taste. That's why making all-fruit marmalade or jam is more important than adding several cups of sugar to your spread, for the sake of your teeth. If you like sweet, there's always fig jam or make a jam out of pureed pitted dates which are very high in sugar.
What's the difference between jam, jelly, and fruit butter?
Jam is chopped fruit and sugar. Jelly is fruit juice and sugar and looks like gelatin. Fruit butter is fruit puree, sugar, and spices. You cook fruit butter until it thickens enough to be spread on bread or crackers. The trick is to make marmalade or jelly or jam or fruit butter without adding sugar, just using fruit pureed and fruit juice with a little pectin powder, if necessary to thicken the gel.
Grape Jelly
Wash grapes and heat with enough water to prevent scorching. When juicy, run the grapes through a colander, squeezing the pulp through the holes. You don't have to add sugar to the grapes. Most jelly makers will add a whopping 6 cups of sugar to every 2 quarts of grapes. Imagine what that will do to your teeth and blood glucose spikes.
Cook the grapes in grape juice, not sugar water. Stir. Put your jelly into half-pint or pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace, and seal. Process 5 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Or use a grape jelly recipe on the web such as, How to Make Homemade Grape Jelly - Easily.
Most grape jelly recipes will tell you to use lots of sugar. But you can use fruit juice concentrate instead or stevia. Check the directions with the pectin; typically, it is 7 cups of sugar to 5 cups of grape juice and one box of regular pectin. You can use about half as much sugar if you use the "no-sugar-needed" pectin.
The precise measurements are found in each and every box of pectin sold. Mix the dry pectin with about 1/4 cup of the sugar and keep this separate from the rest of the sugar. If you are not using sugar, you'll just have to stir more vigorously to prevent the pectin from clumping. See, How to make Jam Without Adding Sugar.
Years ago there were reports of various types of synthetic sweeteners changing the heart beat rate of some users. So it may be healthier for you, if you choose, to stick with fruit juices or stevia to sweeten your desserts. Do your research. Check out the herb, stevia. See, Stevia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Again, you don't need to put sugar in your jams or jellies. There are dozens of other sweeteners around from low-glycemic stevia to honey, (which is a type of sugar) and from pureed fruit boiled down in water to be very sweet to those synthetic sweeteners that have all those good and bad reviews. So check them out and decide what sweetener if any is healthiest for you to keep your blood glucose levels from spiking too high after meals.
Like home-made sweet and sour or pickles and organic sauerkraut? Check out the site, How to Make Pickles and Relish.
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