Grapefruit Marmalade

Bring summer back with a jar of sunshine in this low-sugar grapefruit marmalade. It’ll pucker you up, in a good way!

Dish Count :: Eight 12-ounce Mason Jars, 2 Stock Pots, 1 Cutting Board, 1 Vegetable Peeler

This ain’t yo’ grandmama’s marmalade, friends. This one will pucker your puss and start you day with an extra ray of sunshine.

I’m not stranger to what my best friend calls “old people food”. If there is a prune in a cupboard, I will find it. Tapioca pudding in the fridge, I’m there. And traditional orange marmalade has always felt that way to me too. Mostly because it’s what I always associate grandparents putting on their toast in the morning. As a kid I didn’t particularly like it – the bitter factor. But now, my more educated palate (lololol) is kind of fond of it!

But we switched things up a bit with grapefruit instead. Grapefruit has always had a bit of a significance in our family, because of one adored great uncle. So this recipe was a bit of an homage to him.

Uncle Bill was without fail, the smartest guy we knew. An endless seeker of education, a WWII blimp navigator (I know, right?!), traveler extraordinaire, tennis player well into his senior years, teacher of card tricks, and sender of grapefruits and oranges.

Every year without fail, our family received a box of citrus from the great state of Florida. Sometimes grapefruits, usually oranges. Never having liked grapefruit as a kid, I avoided those particular orbs like the plague, but now I’m somewhat fond of them. Perhaps for no other reason than the memory of Bill.

My mom had dropped off several grapefruits, leaving me with an expression akin to Edith Bunker and spouting  “What am I going to do with all this Paella?” to poor Ben. So how else do you adios something in a hurry? Can it.

And so I did. I found a recipe for a low-sugar orange ginger marmalade in my BHG Canning magazine, but decided to substitute the grapefruit for the orange, and well, add a little less ginger. It called for A LOT. I made a note in the recipe, that if you would like to add the additional ginger, by all means do. I didn’t. Instead, add 1/2 cup extra sugar to the recipe. 

Ingredients for Grapefruit Marmalade

• Grapefruit 
• Water
• Baking Soda
• Fresh Ginger
• Candied Ginger 
• Sugar 
• Powdered Fruit Pectin for Low-Sugar 

I hope Bill would be proud of this recipe. I probably should have added a vodka on the rocks to my canning adventure, to really do it in Bill fashion.

Hi, yes I’m still here. Just a little distracted lately. But hopefully (she says with fingers crossed and a worried expression) that will behind me. It’s not that I haven’t wanted to post here in the last few days (*cough* two weeks*cough), but I’ve been traveling. And working. And cooking more in a three day holiday weekend than I ever thought possible. All for good and exciting things, of course. Hopefully, two things of which I can tell you about in the coming weeks!

Try more canning this summer. It’s a great way to preserve the season for months to come!

Inspired Homemade Recipes To Try

Nectarine Blueberry Ginger Jam

Try these other jams, too!! Bacon Jam from Foodie with Family, Strawberry Freezer Jam from Nutmeg Nanny , and Apricot Jam from Taste and Tell.

Grapefruit Marmalade

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• Author: Megan Keno
• Prep Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
• Cook Time: 30 Minutes
• Total Time: 2 hours
• Yield: 12 8 ounce Jars 1x
• Category: Canning
• Method: Stove Top
• Cuisine: American
• Diet: Vegan

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 8 pounds Grapefruit (About 4 large grapefruit)
• 2 1/2 cups Water
• 1/8 tsp Baking Soda
• 2 Tbsp Fresh Ginger, grated
• 1 cup Candied Ginger (optional – see note below)
• 4 cups Sugar (Add 1/2 cup extra sugar, if omitting candied ginger)
• 1 – 1.75 ounce package Powdered Fruit Pectin for Low-Sugar recipes

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Instructions

• Using a vegetable peeler, peel away the orange portion of the peel from the grapefruit. Slice very finely into strips. Set aside about 1 cup of strips. Discard the rest.
• Cut away the ends and the white pith of the grapefruit. Segment the grapefruit. Then, remove the outer casing to each segment of the grape fruit to get into the “meat” of the segments. Do this over a large bowl, to catch any juice, and the meat of the grapefruit. Discard the white pith and the casing of the grapefruit segments. You will need about 4 cups of grapefruit segments (meat), and the juice. Discard the rest, or eat!
• In a large saucepan, add thinly sliced grapefruit peel, water, and baking soda. Bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer. Cover and stir occasionally for 20-30 minutes, or until the peel is softened.
• While the peel is simmering, bring one large stock pot to a boil with water, and begin to heat your sterile jars for processing.
• Add in the grapefruit juice and meat, and fresh ginger, (and candied ginger, if using) into the stock pot with the softened grapefruit peels. Simmer for 10 additional minutes. Measure 5 1/2 cups of this mixture. Discard the remaining.
• Pour the 5 1/2 cup mixture into a large stock pot. In a small bowl, or glass, stir together the powdered pectin, and 1/4 cup of the sugar. Stir this into the grapefruit mixture.
• Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Stir in the remaining sugar quickly. Bring to a hard boil and stir for 1 minute.
• Ladle your sterile jars with marmalade, leaving 1/4″ of headspace. Wipe the rim of the jars, and seal with lid and screw band.
• Repeat this with all jars. Place back in water filled stock pot, and process jars for 5 minutes. (*Important* Start timing 5 minutes, once the water returns to a full boil*). Remove jars carefully and allow to cool on counter. If they *Pop*, they are sealed. Discard any jars that do not seal properly, or store in fridge and eat within one week.

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