This is the recipe I used the last time I made my annual marmalade; I was happy with it. Also, I collect the seeds, put them in a tea strainer or cheese cloth, and simmer with the oranges-it adds additional pectin.

*For the last 4 years I have used Murcotts from my brother's grove but this was off cycle this year.

Have fun.

Here is a link that might be useful: Marmalade

The traditional way here which I have made countless pounds of over the years is to slice the fruit, peel, rind and all, and soak overnight in the same weight of water, then simmer the fruit until soft and add double the fruit's weight in sugar. For mandarins I would peel, slice the peel, remove that fibrous stuff from around the fruit and slice the fruit, removing the seeds. As mustangs suggests, save the seeds and boil with the fruit in a muslin cloth to add pectin. Any seeds you miss will float to the top for removal after you add the sugar.

I've made marmalade both ways and prefer the process of slicing the whole fruit, although I slice it very thinly, less than the quarter inch. I like lots of peel in marmalade. I also wrap all the seeds, removed membrane, etc. in cheesecloth and toss it into the pot.

This is the recipe I use, LindaC adopted it too, I think. this one requires peeling the fruit.

Orange Marmalade
2 cups thinly sliced orange rind
1 quart chopped orange pulp
1 cup thinly sliced lemons
1 1/2 quarts water
5 cups sugar
1. Add water to fruit and simmer 5 minutes.
2. Cover and let stand 12-18 hours in a cool place.
3. Cook rapidly until peel is tender, about 1 hour.
4. Measure fruit and liquid.
5. Alternate sugar with each cup of fruit mixture.
6. Bring slowly to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves.
7. Cook rapidly, about 25 minutes.
8. When mixture begins to thicken, stir occasionally to prevent sticking.
9. Pour hot into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space.

10. Adjust caps.
11. Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.
12. Yield: about 7 half pints.
    Also notice that you have to leave the fruit sit 12-18 hours so be sure to time this so it'll be ready to start cooking when you are. I started mine on Saturday night and made marmalade on Sunday afternoon after I came home from the farm.

I got this recipe from Dishesdone/Carol, it originally came from Gourmet magazine. It calls for slicing the fruit without peeling first.

MEYER LEMON MARMALADE

6 Meyer lemons (1 1/2 lb)
4 cups water
4 cups sugar
Cheesecloth
Kitchen string
6 (1/2-pint) Mason-type jars, sterilized

Halve lemons crosswise and remove seeds. Tie seeds in a cheesecloth bag. Quarter each lemon half and thinly slice. Combine with bag of seeds and water in a 5-quart nonreactive heavy pot and let mixture stand, covered, at room temperature 24 hours.

Bring lemon mixture to a boil over moderate heat. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until reduced to 4 cups, about 45 minutes. Stir in sugar and boil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally and skimming off any foam, until a teaspoon of mixture dropped on a cold plate gels, about 15 minutes.

Ladle hot marmalade into jars, filling to within 1/4-inch of top. Wipe rims with dampened cloth and seal jars with lids.
Put jars in a water-bath canner or on a rack set in a deep pot. Add enough hot water to cover jars by 1 inch and bring to a boil. Boil jars, covered, 5 minutes and transfer with tongs to a rack. Cool jars completely.

Annie

Thanks for the help. I decided to try both methods. I've made 3 batches of marmalade now -

One with a mix of naval oranges (that was the majority of the mix), mandarins, lemon and lime - the mandarins were peeled and the full peel used because with thin loose skins I wasn't able to zest them. That is quite good.

One with mandarins that was all whole peel - that is fine but my least favorite (as of initial tasting - I wonder my opinion of it will change as it matures). The whole peel makes it more bitter but not so bitter as to be unpalatable. I just don't like the courser texture of the whole peel as much.

One with just limes, zest and pulp (a cheese cloth satchet of some pith and membranes in the mix while cooking to add pectin). That is wonderful. The zest is delicate giving the result some texture. The lime flavor pure, tart and clean. I'd definitely make that one again. The limes were also the easiest to prepare - they zest pretty easily and the segments are pretty uniform and good sized so simpler to supreme and there are no seeds to remove.

I also made a batch of ginger, pear, lime preserves - a Ball recipe mentioned on my thread on the harvest forum. It was a small batch recipe that made 2 and a half pints and its so very good. It's even better than the plain lime. I need to make more of that - perhaps a double batch.

cloud swift, that lime marmalade sounds delicious, I love marmalade. I'm off to find that ginger/pear/lime recipe, I think I'd like that a LOT.

I just finished a batch of raspberry/ghost pepper jelly, that was interesting....

Annie

Annie, here is the Ball recipe - they just call them Ginger Pear preserves but the lime flavor is pretty strong in the ones we made - perhaps more so because our limes are big but I think it should be in the name.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ginger Pear Lime preserves