Would you believe someone has already done that? The Pomona pectin brand is not fruit based, which does require a lot of sugar. Instead, Pomona is citrus based, and only needs a little calcium to set, as opposed to using sugar. Some fruits are very low in pectin, so even if they are sweetened beyond a normal taste for a jelly, they may still need an added pectin of some kind. A 220 degree temp is above boiling water, so I believe that it thickened a little like a soft ball stage candy.

Here's the info you requested from the University of South Florida. When I made citrus pectin I ended up with a pectin-heavy base that was viscous and slimy (sorry - the best description) not too different in texture from the liquid pectin you can buy.

Citrus Pectin:

One-half pound white part of orange peel, 1 pint water, 4 tablespoons lemon juice.

Cut or grate the yellow from orange peel. Pass white peel through a food chopper. Weigh, add lemon juice, mix, allow to stand 1 hour. Add 1 ¼ pints water. Let stand 1 hour. Boil gently 10 minutes. Cover, let cool, place in flannel jelly bag and allow to drain. Press to remove juice. Drain juice through a clean bag.

The site's almost "invisible" searching conventionally, but if you want recipes using the pectin, visit the page I've linked to. Just scroll down until you hit the section on citrus pectin and pectin test followed by the recipes.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Citrus Pectin

Carol - that's fantastic! However did you manage to find it - that goes back to 1931 (you were just a tad then - I know).

Another question then - after the pectin is obtained - how to preserve it? For practical use, a gallon container is a bit big unless it is a big "harvest" and I'm sure there are a lot of the gals on this forum, who could handle that very well.

But - for the homemaker who just wants to be conservative (that's me) how would you go about making the pectin useful, once it is extracted. Say - for instance - putting up in convenient size containers for a single batch or two - one wouldn't want to tie up a lot of small jelly glasses - and going to the trouble of sealing.

However, freezing - if it is an option would be more acceptable.

That is a "good to know" article. I agree, however, that perhaps the reason a lot of us are doing home canning is to find something a bit different, and overall more pleasure in eating. For a fact, I have always disliked store jams and jellies - and mainly because they seem to lack the flavor (citrus perhaps?) or because they are mass produced giving them a taste of "sameness."

Many thanks -

Bejay

Hello Bejay,

Heck, I wasn't even a twinkle, much less a tad, in 1931. I found the site a couple of years ago and finding it again this time was a task because it's archived in the education department of USF along with articles on teaching social studies. Quite how it ended up there I don't know.

Anyway, to answer your questions: 1) Your pectin stock will be stronger if you use underripe fruit 2) You can freeze your stock (Carol Costenbader prefers this method) or 3) It can be canned like jelly, 10 minutes hot clean jars in a boiling water bath.

Carol

Sometimes adding all that sugar will make the jelly a bit swet and bland. The flavor does seem to get lost in some fruit spreads. Suggest adding extra acid, either citric, or a blend of tarteric, malic, and citric. With an added acid in a jelly that is sweet, it tends to make more flavor come out. The acid blends can be bought through wine making supply stores.

Readinglady - I'm still a bit confused about the zest and the pith. (hmmm sounds funny doesn't it?).

In making the pectin - (from the recipe for lime jelly) it sounded like I should use the zest and scrape the insides -the pulp, but try to avoid the white stuff.

But now it seems the white pith is ground and "squoozed" in a flannel bag (Ok and why flannel - you knew I was going to ask - didn't you?)

Today, I will go agathering - and pick up a lot of fallen fruit - mostly limes. It is good to know also that oranges can also be salvaged. It grieves me deeply to compost all of those excess dropping oranges all the time -but at least the worms in the compost like them.

Bejay

Ok, I'll try to answer your questions, Bejay, but pretty soon we're going to hit the limit of what I know on this topic, LOL.

I think the confusion comes from the fact that in one recipe you're making a jelly where the pectin is only a part of the whole and in the one I provided you're making a pectin base which is really concentrated.

I need to back up a little. Home cooks have been making pectin stock for a long, long time. Basically pectin stock can be made from any high-pectin fruit - apples, quinces, lemons, oranges, even plums I suppose. Apple stock is by far the most common because apples are loaded with natural pectin, they're available over a wide range of climate zones, they're easy to prep and the resulting stock is pretty "neutral." So apple pectin base is a good flavor carrier and can be used in a wide variety of jams and jellies without being obvious.

Citrus pectin has slightly different qualities from apple. There's a difference in texture and the flavor is more pronounced. The difference in texture doesn't mean it's inferior. Manufacturers will choose one over the other (apple v.s. citrus) depending upon what they're making and the "mouthfeel" they're aiming for. The more pronounced flavor of a lemon pectin base means it's most suited for a jam or jelly where you want that lemon.

Now, to get back to your original question. The majority of pectin in citrus is contained in the white part of the skin  the pith or "albedo"  plus the membranes between the segments and the seeds. So if you really want some super-jelling pectin stock in large quantities, that's what you'll use. But, the pith is also bitter, so there is a tradeoff, which is why some "gourmet" commercial jam-makers settle for less quantity and use only the membranes and seeds.

When I make a preserve and am adding a bit of lemon juice, I routinely put the lemon membrane and seeds in a bag and cook it with the fruit and sugar, so it gets the added pectin "boost." That's a shortcut method.

Now, going back to the original citrus pectin recipe, of course it doesn't have to be a flannel bag; I suppose it's just that flannel was common and cheap in 1931. Muslin was "upscale." Now, the hot pectin stock will be thin, though you may see viscous strands, but it will really thicken once it cools, so the bag needs to be thoroughly squeezed to get the highest proportion of pectin.

I hope this helps, Bejay. Happy preserving,

Carol

Oh my gosh, Carol, I can't think of another single thing - (aren't you glad?).

You covered what I had in mind - about the pith being somewhat bitter, so perhaps I will try to go sparingly on it and concentrate on the rest. I'd like to add the zest to the juice for better flavor - as I usually do, so hope that won't be a negative.

The freezing part sounds good too. That Carol Costenbader really sounds like she knows her specialty. (I have her book "Preserving the Harvest" and it has a lot of nice recipes that I'm going to try.

How can I say it - Carol, you really must have an encylopedia of cooking lore at your house.

As always, thank you, it is most appreciated.

Bejay

You're welcome. Although the recipe doesn't mention it, you can certainly achieve similar results by reducing the orange pith and use the membranes around the segments as well as the seeds. (Don't grind those!)

Depending upon the orange variety, you might discover the pectin is considerably more neutral than a lemon-derived one.

The orange segments can be frozen in sugar syrup or juiced. Also the newest Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving provides canning recipes for Honey-Orange Slices and Oranges in Cointreau, if you're so inclined.

Carol

P.S. I have a very tolerant DH who is used to detouring around my books.

That's so funny. I know a few teachers, and their living areas always look like more books than furniture. LOL.

Much obliged - I'm off to do the limes - they are washed and ready.

Bejay

Well - I've thought a lot about the final results of my "experiment" and as best I can recall, this is what I concluded.

First, the lime jelly was excellent in flavor - but more of a syrup than a jelly. Really happy with the nice true lime taste. The color turned a bit to amber - but a drop of green coloring helped the looks of it.

That was the recipe from Carol Costenbader's book - where the pectin is made along with the recipe itself.

Then after the above posts with you, I decided to extract and freeze pectin from the limes I had - it yielded almost a half pint after squeezing and jelly bagging.

Yesterday, I used oranges and mandarins for juice and a half cup of my own pectin. Because I was still a bit wary of using the pectin by itself, I followed a recipe in the Sure-Gel packet and added that in the usual manner.

The end result - (as Ken brought out above) was for less intense orange flavor - but the consistency was definitely "gelled" and the color definitely orange. The mixed citrus flavors, however, left the finished product a bit bland - but still citrus.

For my money, I think I will opt for Carol Costenbader's recipe in the future - as I definitely like the "true" flavor of the lime (citrus) that her recipe brings out.

So - that is the end result of my present citrus harvest gleanings.

The orange/mandarin jelly would go well on thumbprint cookies too, or maybe topping for Danish sweetbread, etc. It also might make a good base for the habanero type jellies - which I have yet to try.

Bejay

Ooh, base for Habanero jellies. That sounds good.

That lime jelly sounds excellent. I wouldn't be surprised if it sets up in time. As you know, the citrus marmalades are notorious for slow sets.

Here, of course, I have to buy limes. But I think I'll take a look at the Costenbader recipe and keep it in mind for the rare times limes come on sale.

Carol

With some advice from Carol, I have made my own pectin from apples. It was cloudly/milky looking, but the jelly-ish jam it went into wasn't.

I also puree grapes and can the result. As needed, I boil that down and add other fruits to it for making jam. Or I put it into cinnamon pears to make it thicken a bit. The grape skins have a lot of pectin in them. Obviously you can only use red or purple grape pureee in something dark colored. I have had the red grape flavor mess with a strawberry flavor. Still was good, but not very strawberry-ish. The green grapes are mostly sweetness and not much grape flavor, so those work well with almost anything. It only works for jam, I imagine that it would make jelly funny looking, the particles of grapes I mean.

I have frozen some apple pectin and it worked fine later.

Marcia

Suggest that you add some of the acid blend I mentioned previously. It has the same acids that are found in most fruits including grapes and strawberries. I find that if a jam is cloyingly sweet, if I add a small amount of the acid blend it makes for a much brighter tasting jam. The acid blen is granular, like citric, buts has 1/3 citric, 1/3 malic, and 1/3 tarteric acid. All three equate to the same amount that would be just citric acid alone. This can be bought through beer and wine making supply stores.

For canned tomatoes, it seems to give them a nicer flavor without making them too acidic, but for some, they add a bit of sugar (dare I say Prego) so the tomato sauce has a milder taste.

Yesterday, 5 half pints of the best (so-far) lime jelly. This was a nice result. After much searching - trying to glean out what I wanted from many recipes - (with lots of confusion in this ol head), the lime (or other citrus) jellies- not marmalade - is what I was shooting for.

The lime peels definitely yielded more pectin - than the orange did. The literature does say that unripened fruit has more so perhaps that was a factor too. My oranges are truly ripe now and very sweet as well, and did not get as much pectin from them.

So - yesterday the recipe was:

A half cup of home made pectin, mixed with -
3-1/2 cups of lime juice - (4 cups total).
5-1/2 cups of sugar.
1 pkg Sure-Gel
1 drop of green food coloring - in each jar after filling.

I followed the directions in the Sure-Gel packet - adding the gel at rolling boil, etc.

This is the recipe that I wanted rather than marmalade, but I figured if I could put back the extracted pectin with the juice it would firm up OK - instead of processing it with whole fruit - or marmalade.

So - thanks Carol for helping me sort out my thinking - sorry if I was so confused - but just wasn't able to find a clear citrus jelly recipe that seemed to fit what I wanted.

For extracting the pectin, I took the easy way. After squeezing the juice and adding some zest, I tossed the peels into my food processor, grinding to a mush.

This mix was put in a kettle, added enough water to cover and boiled for 5 minutes until thick - like oatmeal. Then it was put into a strong flour sack/diaper cloth and allowed to drain. It needs squeezing so that was the reason for the strong bag. Cheese cloth would break.

I froze the pectin in half pint freezer containers. The last batch was a bit thin - so poured off the liquid on top as the heavier goo had settled somewhat after thawing.

Thanks - especially readinglady -

You folks are the greatest - do appreciate all the help.

By the way, where did everybody go? To Australia with prarielove?

Bejay

I'm still lurking around. Just not canning anything now that the craft fair is over. We will be making more pepper jelly in the new year. I plan to throw some certo in my luggage for habanero gold. I discovered that two of jars I put up for gifts this summer had lost their seal. They were commercial type jelly jars that I purchased in Germany. We've alread polished off the apricot preserves and I discovered the cherry amaretto this morning. It's just such a shame that I'll have to eat them myself (please note sarcasm). I was feeling ambivalent about them. I really didn't want to give them away (since I don't have alot of it for myself) but felt like I shouldn't keep them since I intended them to be a gift. Solved that problem.

I've been following you pectin making with interest. Eventually I intend to have my own citrus trees.

Glad things are working Bejay. That sounds interesting. Not that we have an abundance of limes here in the Pacific Northwet to worry about!

I haven't been on much. I've been busy with Christmas baking. At least I was until my wall oven went kablooie. We're due for a kitchen remodel but the contractor is running months behind. Against his wiser instincts he agreed to work on a log house, which has been a litany of problems, beginning with logs which don't line up and pre-drilled holes for wiring that don't go anywhere. Then clients decided to move the kitchen.

So have been busy with things like pulling said wall-oven out, mucking around with a fan that's no longer available, that sort of thing. Oven is now re-inserted and I am back in business. Compared to this, canning is easy.

Carol

Bejay,
I noticed in the first post that you could have used a zester. If you don't have a microplane yet, that is one kitchen toy that I can highly recommend. I use mine all the time. I could give up 75% of the stuff I have in my kitchen drawers, but that is in the 25% that would stay.
Melly

Melly - Citrus is one thing that likes the soil, water and weather here. Right now I have a bumper crop of mandarin oranges, growing on a dwarf tree that is probably 30 years old. Each year it does the same thing - great producer.

They are a bit pesky to peel and get the strings off - but I find a nice sunny spot in the yard - make a comfortable spot, and peel away. Do macadamias the same way.

About that microplane - I intend to have one - as subjecting my knuckles to the "ol fashioned" grater - is a bummer. After saving some of the juice with zest and freezing for later use - drinks, pies, etc., I also decided to try some lime/salt/pepper seasoning. As I make garlic and onion salt, I decided to try the zest the same way.

So - mixed zest with iodized salt and ground pepper corns, also added a bit of lime juice, put the mash in a pie pan and slow dried in the oven. When it dried, I ground it in the food processor until it passed through a shaker. Actually, it tastes as good as the store bought variety.

Another use for my citrus - Wow!

Readinglady - how I can identify with things that break down. Because of the high cost of hiring someone, my son and I have learned to repair a lot of stuff - good thing - as this old house was ancient in "69" when we bought it, and perhaps it should have been torn down a long time ago, but you know the saying, "you can't beat the location."

So - an education it has been. Son has just replaced some rotten galvanized plumbing - that was just waiting for an excuse to give out. I have to admire him for being able to cope with these little things, because labor is sooo expensive.

Anyway, glad your back in business. I know how I would feel if my kitchen were non-functioning. Guess, I'd have to take a vacation.

It has been interesting - the posts on outdoor canning with propane stoves. It has never been noted before, that natural gas is slow - by comparison. In other words, it takes a long time to get that jelly to a rolling boil with our local gas, but propane can get it there in much less time. Maybe I will consider that option next summer, also keeps the kitchen cooler and neater.

P.S. I asked Santa to bring me a stainless steel canning rack to fit inside my pots. If it helps the rust problem, then perhaps I can avoid buying bottled water.

Whee - kind of long - sorry.

Bejay

being scuffed with a 'micro plane' is more damaging to the human skin than a grater. It simply digs in deeper! Ouch! Cooks Magazine offered a free micro plane with a years subscription. Mine took 7 months to arrive, so I didn't renew the subscription. The magazine is from the same people who have a PBS show called Americas Test Kitchen. Its not a thick publication, because it contains no ads.

Bejay,
Ken is right, you do have to be careful with the microplane, it can do to you what it does with the citrus. Ouch! My inlaws completely neglect the satsuma we planted in their yard. They have a bumper crop this year and apparently some of them are just rotting on the tree. It just kills me. Can't they find a neighbor to give them to or something. Teh lime seasoning sound very nice.
Melly

Melly -

I agree - about the mandarins, I mean. They are so versatile. I have never tried to can any - except the juice I added to the orange jelly. But I put up many half pints and freeze. Somehow, we always manage to consume them during the season.

They are especially nice served with a side dish - with a heavy meal of meat and potatoes - sort of tends to balance out. Also make a lot of mixed fruit types - with pineapple, banana, marashino cherry and coconut - the flavors sort of meld together nicely.

They are also good squeezed for juice as well. Too bad your folks can't find some one to share.

I planted lots of nice trees and hate to waste any if I can help. The oranges do drop, and suppose I should prune the old tree hard to keep the crop down. Not enough to sell but - do share with neighbors, and we try to eat most.

For small families, it is best to plant the dwarf varieties, and in recent years, that is what I've done.

Bejay