Meyer Lemon Marmalade

Trim the ends of each lemon, halve them crosswise and remove the seeds – keep all of the seeds and tie them into a cheesecloth bag – I draped some cheesecloth over a bowl, dropped the seeds into the bowl as I worked and then tied the ends together with kitchen string.  Quarter each lemon and thinly slice, then put all of the lemon into a large, nonreactive heavy pot along with the water and the bag of seeds.  Give it all a stir and allow it to sit at room temperature for 24 hours.

When you’re ready to start the marmalade, get your jars ready (I sterilized them as the lemons were cooking), and bring the whole pot of lemon mix to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cook, uncovered, until reduced in volume to about half – this will take about an hour.  Stir in all of the sugar, and continue to boil and stir, skimming off any foam, until a bit of marmalade dropped on a cold plate gels.  This will take 20-30 minutes.  I tried a few plates before I realized that it also takes some time to gel…so on my third attempt, thinking it was too runny, the first drop on the first plate had thickened – do your best.

Ladle the hot jam into the sterilized jars, leaving a half centimeter at the top, wipe the edges and seal the jars with lids.  Process the jars as you would (most of mine sealed themselves, we ate the others first), then start making hot buttered toast! (the heart-shaped biscuits were from Deanna!).