Citrus Marmalade

This marmalade is from the Ball Blue Book of Canning- the reigning "Bible" of North American canning, with completely FDA approved recipes (important if you want to have the best chances of avoiding botuslism.)

I've seen similar recipes for this marmalade (also called GLO, for the three citrus ingredients) in other cookbooks.

Since this is only my second time canning solo, a few things didn't go as well as I'd hoped. I started out with one fewer cup of sugar than called for, and was so sternly admonished by a cookbook I was flipping through to "Always use the amount of sugar called for" that I immediately dumped the final cup of sugar into my almost-gelled marmalade, which then seized up into something similar to Jell-O. I guess sugar helps things to gel properly? I have yet to make a recipe calling for additional pectin- both my attempts so far have used fruit high enough in natural pectin to not require additional. I wonder what it would be like to only cook something for 5 or 10 minutes, instead of stirring for an hour?

Also, when I went to take the jars out of the water canner, I realized it had NOT been simmering for the last 10 minutes. So I turned it up and let them simmer for an additional 10...and they'd been in an extra 10 waiting for the water to come to the initial simmer (that didn't last). So, the marmalade got some extra cooking at the end and came out very dark. But, all the jars sealed and nothing broke this time. So we're making progress! (And you can see that I didn't do a good job skimming the marmalade- I just can't stand throwing all that jam away! I saved what I did skim, and have been enjoying it on toast. Mmmm, foamy marmalade!)

Citrus Marmalade
Ball Blue Book of Canning

1 1/2 cups thinly sliced grapefruit peel (about 1 medium)
1/2 cup thinly sliced orange peel (about 1 medium)
3 quarts water, divided
1 1/2 cups chopped grapefruit pulp (about 1 medium)
3/4 cup chopped orange pulp (about one medium)
1/2 cup thinly sliced and seeded lemon (about 1 medium)
Sugar

1. Combine fruit peels and 1 1/2 quarts water; boil 5 minutes; drain.
2. Add fruit pulp, sliced lemon and 1 1/2 quarts water; boil 5 minutes.
3. Cover and let stand 12 to 18 hours in a cool place.
4. Cook rapidly until peel is tender.
5. Measure fruit and liquid. Add 1 cup sugar for each cup fruit mixture, stirring until sugar dissolves.
6. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Cook rapidly almost to gelling point. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking.
7. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle hot marmalade into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.