Grapefruit Marmalade Recipe

A preserve that captures the bright flavor and citrusy aroma of fresh grapefruit juice.

Profile view of several half-pint jars filled with grapefruit marmalade.

Serious Eats / Lucy Baker

Why It Works

  • Adding powdered pectin reduces the simmering time required to get the marmalade to the jelling point, resulting in a fresher, brighter grapefruit flavor.

This grapefruit marmalade, inspired by my dad's annual juice craze, embodies everything I love best about freshly squeezed juice: the tiny bits of pulp; the citrusy aroma; and the bright, fresh flavor.

My parents have been married for more than 30 years, and they still have the same juicer they got as a wedding gift. It's lime green and it sounds like a lawn mower. Every winter, without fail, my dad takes it down from the shelf, dusts it off, and begins his juice-making season. It's his attempt to ramp up his vitamin C intake and ward off colds and the flu. If you spend the night at my parents' house any time between December and April, you can count on the juicer to wake you up bright and early, and my dad to thrust a (freshly squeezed!) glass under your nose at the breakfast table.

Not that I'm complaining. Who doesn't love freshly squeezed citrus juice? While my dad prefers Florida oranges (and orders them by the crateful), I've always been partial to bright, sweet pink grapefruit. Since I don't have the time to make juice every morning, not to mention the space for a juicer in my tiny Brooklyn kitchen, I set out to make a grapefruit marmalade that embodied everything I love about my dad's juice.

Citrus rinds are naturally high in pectin. Because of this, most recipes for marmalade don't call for added pectin, and instead they direct you to slowly simmer the fruit for a long time until it thickens. But spending so much time over heat can dull the flavors of the fruit. Since I wanted my marmalade to taste like freshly squeezed juice, I decided to use powdered fruit pectin, which drastically reduces cooking time.

While stripping and mincing the rind from the grapefruits is a bit laborious, once that step is out of the way, the rest of the preparation is a breeze. I kept this recipe as simple as possible, but feel free to play with the flavors. Substitute two oranges for one of the grapefruits, or toss half a split vanilla bean into the pot along with the chopped fruit. This recipe makes slightly more than seven half-pints. You could preserve the last bit in a smaller 4-ounce jar, or just stash it in a plastic container in the fridge. Trust me, it won't last long.

January 2012

Recipe Details

Grapefruit Marmalade Recipe

Prep 10 mins
Cook 60 mins
Active 75 mins
Total 70 mins
Serves 56 to 60 servings
Makes 7 to 7 1/2 half-pints plus a little extra

Ingredients

  • 6 1/2 cups sugar

  • 4 medium or 3 large pink grapefruit

  • 1/8 teaspoon baking soda

  • One (1.75-ounce) package regular powdered fruit pectin

  • 1/4 teaspoon unsalted butter

Directions

  1. Measure the sugar into a large bowl and set aside.

  2. Wash grapefruit and remove rinds in quarters. Discard 4 of the quarters (the rind of 1 grapefruit). Thinly slice remaining quarters lengthwise, then roughly chop them crosswise into smaller pieces. Transfer rinds to a large pot and add 2 cups of water and baking soda. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, cover, lower the heat, and simmer until the rinds are soft and beginning to turn translucent, about 15 minutes.

  3. Meanwhile, roughly chop grapefruit and remove any seeds. Transfer grapefruit to a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add fruit to pot with the rind and return the mixture to a simmer. Simmer, covered, until the fruit has softened a bit, about 15 minutes.

  4. Measure 5 cups of the fruit mixture, making sure to get a good combination of rind, fruit, and juice. Discard the remaining fruit mixture. Return the reserved 5 cups of the fruit mixture to the pot. Stir in the pectin and butter and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Add sugar all at once and return the mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil hard for 1 minute.

  5. Remove pot from heat and skim any foam from surface of the marmalade with a cold metal spoon. Ladle marmalade into hot, sterilized jars. Wipe rims, apply lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Special Equipment

Seven half-pint canning jars with lids and rings, equipment for boiling-water bath canning

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Nutrition Facts (per serving)
99 Calories
0g Fat
25g Carbs
0g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 56 to 60
Amount per serving
Calories 99
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g 0%
Saturated Fat 0g 0%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 3mg 0%
Total Carbohydrate 25g 9%
Dietary Fiber 0g 2%
Total Sugars 24g
Protein 0g
Vitamin C 9mg 47%
Calcium 6mg 0%
Iron 0mg 0%
Potassium 44mg 1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)