Its Delish! Vanilla Kumquat Marmalade

A few Sundays ago, my family went to my mom's house for dinner. She has the most beautiful back yard, and in the middle of it is a huge kumquat tree.

Isn't that a beauty! So I thought I would get the kids out there and pick some kumquats. And boy did they come up with a huge bounty!

Mason, my older- more serious son, loves to pick fruit, so he was very competitive.

Toby, my younger goofball son, was perfectly happy to squeeze the kumquats so the juice would squirt right in your eye.

Between them and their two younger cousins, they picked a HUGE bowl full of kumquats. So I decided to make kumquat marmalade.

First, I got my tools out: 1 bowl for seeds, one large measuring cup so I knew how many kumquats I had cut, a cutting board, a knife and a towel to wipe my hands off with.

Then I began to slice the kumquats and reserve the seeds in the little bowl. You will use the seeds later, so be sure to save them. Plus, you don't want hard seeds in your finished marmalade.

This is what 3 pints (6 cups) of sliced and de-seeded kumquats look like.

And this is what the seeds look like from 3 pints of kumquats.

Put the seeds in some cheesecloth and tie a string around it.

Then put the kumquats, seeds, and 8 cups of water into a pot and bring to a boil.

There it is, boiling away. Once it has come to a boil, let it run for about 5 minutes and then turn off the heat and let the kumquats, water, and seeds soak overnight.

The next day, bring the pot with the kumquat mixture to a quick boil. Then add 6 cups of sugar.

Bring it back up to a boil and then lower the heat to low and let simmer.

While you are waiting for the mixture to come to the second boil (after you add the sugar), you should split your vanilla bean in half lengthwise.

Then use your knife to scrape out all the seeds, otherwise known as 'vanilla caviar'. Add the seeds and scraped pod to the pot.

Here is what the mixture looks like once everything is in the pot. Notice how high up the mixture comes in the pot.

Here is a close-up of the marmalade. Can you see the brown specks of vanilla goodness? Now let the marmalade cook until it is ready. How can you tell if the mixture is ready? Put a metal spoon in the freezer so it gets really cool. Then, you put a few drops of marmalade on the spoon and stick it back in the freezer for about a minute. If you push on the drops and they wrinkle, the marmalade is done.

Here is what the marmalade looks like when it is ready for canning. Notice how far down the liquid is in the pot. This took about 1 1/2- 2 hours. Turn off the heat and skim the white foam off with a spoon. Let the mixture cool while you prepare the jars.

I went out and purchased 12 half pint jars. I only ended up needing 6 of them for this recipe. I unscrewed the caps and put the tops in boiling water for about 5 minutes.

Apparently this softens the 'glue' that will help seal the jars.

Then I carefully filled the jars (after I had washed them with soapy water and rinsed in hot water) to about 1/8 inch from the top. Then, using tongs I placed the hot tops on the jars and sealed with the rings.

The filled jars were then placed in a pot of boiling water. I thought I was supposed to have the water boiling 2 inches from the tops of the jars. It turns out I was supposed to have the water 2 inches above the tops. After boiling for 15 minutes I carefully removed the jars and let them cool. As each jar cooled I could hear the tops *pop* which meant the canning was successful.

And there we have the finished product!

I like my marmalade on toast with cream cheese, but you could also use it on muffins, or even throw it over brie and bake for 30 minutes and then spread it over crackers. Yum!

Hope you enjoyed my little foray into making and canning marmalade. If you really decide to do some canning of your own, please don't follow my directions, as they are somewhat imperfect. I would just google it and read a few bloggers who are experts on the subject.

Thanks dolls!