On our way back from Franklin’s photo shoot in Brunswick we stopped for groceries at a Hannaford’s in Yarmouth. I spotted a bag of meyer lemons and grabbed them.
Six or seven years ago I saw meyer lemons at whole foods (or maybe it was Bread and Circus then) and got a couple to throw in a batch of orange marmalade. I had no idea what was special about them, but thought they were worth a try. I think there was also a lime in the mix and that certainly helped, but I always thought the meyer lemons made the difference. They’re as different from ordinary lemons as tangerines are from oranges — much more aromatic, with a distinctive flavor. Now I get them whenever I see them and have any intention of making marmalade that year.
I think this batch used four meyer lemons, one lime, water to bring the peel and juice and water to four cups, five and 2/3 cups of sugar, and one package of liquid pectin. It was one more cup of juice and a proportional amount of sugar more than the pectin recipe leaflet called for. I got six half-pints and one twelve ounce jars of marmalade plus another custard cup full. The custard cup had jelled by morning, so it wasn’t too much juice for the pectin. It would have been eight half-pints if I had washed that many. It’s good stuff.