Marmalade Three-Way(s)

Marmalade Mark I
Respect to Liking Pineapples

Start 1.5kg citrus = five grapefruit and one lemon
Citrus into suprêmes, peel skin off and chop
Reserve membranes, seeds, pith

Boil remaining citrus & skin = 550g in 1.25L, 250g of reserved bits in muslin bag for one hour

Cut muslin bag in strainer pot over pot of boiled fruit & peel

Left for ages as went out etc

Added 460g sugar, 35g of Hansells Pectin (1/2 packet) to the around 1kg of water & fruit

Boiled for 24 min stirring, testing every six till very thick and dark orange, bubbling like hockey pockey.

Yielded two jars of extremely well set marmalade, almost like fruit cheese. I definitely could have stopped boiling earlier.

Mamalade Mark II
Respect to Naturally by Trisha

Start 1.5kg citrus = six grapefruit and one lemon
Cut off ends as if to supreme, cored with apple corer and removed obvious pips
Reserve cores, pips
Slice with food processor disk finely, discarding large pithy pieces and slicing large peel pieces

Boil remaining citrus = 1.1kg in 1L of water, reserved bits in muslin bag for 45min as it started sticking

Left overnight as busy

Added 550g sugar,  35g of Hansells Pectin (1/2 packet)

Boiled for 12min at 115 degrees (got to nearly 120 at the end) with minimal stirring, testing every six till set as obvious through leaving in small glass bowl and separating into halves by finger and flaked off a spoon.

Yielded three jars plus 75mL cook's treat of soft, runny and very nice marmalade. I'm not sure its sour enough for my taste but I think I would struggled to set it with less. I think the slices could be thicker and larger but that would be hard to achieve without a larger food processor pipe or the effort to slice it myself.

Marmalade Mark III

Same as II but just cut core end off not whole top
Slice with FP disk thicker

Soak remaining = 1.4kg in 1L overnight

Boil remaining citrus = 1.6kg, reserved bits in muslin bag for 45min as sticking

Left two nights as busy

Added 500g sugar, 70g Hansells Pectin (1 packet)

Boiled for 6min at 105 degrees, burnt bottom and caramelised. Was very brown and seemed lightly jellified so stopped. Definitely sets quicker using all the pectin.

Yielded five jars of tart, runny and slightly caramelised marmalade with large chunks of fruit. I still like it but its an acquired taste as its slightly burned but tart. I think this would have been the perfect recipe with a bit more sugar and unburned!

WIP roundup aka do I have the right to knit a sweater

Actual WIPs
Noro Linen Bits (see above) - Most successful socks ever, finished one in ten days, going well on the second.

Nightwatch Lily - Not being sure if it will get much wear by my daughter has put me off knitting it. I hope to finish it before the end of the year but its not a priority in my knitting mind.

Hibernating
4 pairs of Socks - Vinnland are too hard, Hungry Bees pattern is stupid, Twin Rib is boring, Jays are tedious and tricky

Red Twisty Turvy - Will try to get it done before Autumn

Gotland Driftwood - Need to prepare and spin fibre to finish, not on the cards right now

Rock Island - This pattern kills, don't have the time for fancy lace.

Finally a dragon Gail!

I've finally finished my Gail aka Nightsong shawl in the lovely Grrrl Shape Yarn Silk Merino Sock in Wyrmberg a variegated yarn with silver, green and purple to look like a dragon from Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic.

Here's a closeup of the tip which I messed up slightly due to the confusing double yarn over instructions, more details on its Ravelry Page.

It took me two years and its kind of too big for what I find easy to wrap around me but I'm glad I did it. It also encouraged me to do another shawl which I'm soaring through.

Here's a preview: yes that's handpun rainbow pastel yarn! And my daughter is 'knitting'.

Pear Jam

I almost had a fail on this jam but I saved it just in time.

Ingredients
550g Pear, peeled and chopped
100g Apple, peeled and chopped
6 cups of water
1 cup of sugar
30 mL of lemon juice (one small)
Bit of zest

Added fruit and 2 cups of water, heated for 45min, adding further 4 cups as it dried out. Mouled and added sugar. Heated for about 15min, didn't check quick enough and almost burned. However succeeded and ended up with one jar of sweet thick fruit spread.

I really enjoyed the hints of lemon I got, next time I will add more.

Grape jam journey in Autumn

Jam
So far I've done five batches of grape jam:

1) 1.5kg of fruit to 4 cups water, strained everything and then added 4 cups of sugar, heated for ages till it jelled, ended up with four jars of soft jelly.

2) 1kg of fruit with no water, separated innards from skins, heated innards and put through moulee and food processed skins. Used 500g of sugar, jelled very quickly after 15 min, resulted in one jar and one tiny jar of very strong jam. Followed the method of The Waitakere Redneck's Kitchen: Grape Jam

3) 1kg of fruit with 1 cup of water, strained everything and then added 2 cups of sugar, set after 15 min and produced one jar and three little jars of nice standard sweet jam.

4) 1kg of fruit with 4 cups of water, strained everything and then added 2 cups of sugar. I added some of the skins in too and it set after 30 min but stuck to the bottom of the pan and got very dark. Made one jar of slightly overcooked, slightly chunky jam.

5) 1kg of fruit, separated innards from skins, heated innards and at the same time softened skins in a cup of water over low heat.  Used 2 cups of sugar, jelled after 15 min. I put half of the skins in the jam and then topped up the jars with the remaining skins. Resulted in two jams of chunky jam. Adapted the method of The Waitakere Redneck's Kitchen: Grape Jam

I'd say that method three was my favourite method, quick, great result and good yield.

Knitting
I've just finished an Autumnal cardigan for my daughter and I'm planning a new cardigan for myself in purple Perendale wool from Skeinz.