Pomelo

Yesterday I made some Pomelo marmalade, and this morning I couldn’t resist but enjoy it on a fresh piece of hot buttered toast. Of course I had to use salty butter (sea salt crystal butter).

I hadn’t really heard or seen pomelos before, but last week I saw some at the market and decided to buy 3 to make some marmalade with. They are larger than a grapefruit, and apparently are used to cross with oranges to produce grapefruits.

I thought I would be able to treat them similar to lemons, but once I’d done some research on them I realised they are a lot more bitter than a lemon, and have a tougher pith. Also, the flesh is quite course in texture.

I spent a good hour or more peeling off the outer skin, careful not to take too much pith. I then separated the flesh from the pith, and shredded the outer skin, putting it with the flesh, and any juice, into my jam saucepan. Then I tied all the pith, and all the pips, in some muslin, and placed that in the pan as well. After that, I just barely covered it with water and got it up to a rolling boil. You need to keep squeezing the muslin bag, throughout this process, as this is where the natural pectin to set the marmalade comes from. I used a potato masher to do this.

I’d put a saucer in the freezer so I could use this to test the setting point of the marmalade. You just drop a teaspoon of the marmalade onto the cold saucer, leave it for a couple of minutes, and if it wrinkles when you tip it, it’s ready. I think it boiled for about 30 minutes. It’s best to leave it for about 5 minutes after turning the heat off to cool slightly before putting it in the prepared sterilised jars. I made about 6 jars, and couldn’t resist trying it at breakfast this morning.

Although preparing the fruit was a bit of a faff, it tastes delicious.