December 2011: Making the most of a bumper crop, at the height of citrus season

Last week on her American Public Media radio show The Splendid Table, host Lynne Rossetto Kasper made this recipe for a classic breakfast marmalade sound so irresistible, we resolved to celebrate Louisiana's citrus season by making a batch. Done right it demands a fair bit of time at the stove. But then again, if there's a better place to spend a chilly weekend than in a warm kitchen, slicing and simmering fresh, colorful fruits into fragrant, sugary lusciousness, we don't know it. A wonderful start to the holiday season, and a perfect fit for Christmas stockings, too.

The first thing to note about this recipe is that you really do have to put aside three separate sessions to do it right, the reason being that it's necessary to blanch the lemons and grapefruit separately, in batches, to wash the bitterness from the rinds. There's a consolation prize though, which is that your house will be filled with deliciously fresh citrusy fragrance for the entire weekend. Mercifully, the recipe posted on The Splendid Table Web site makes the time commitment clear, breaking down the instructions into three separate sessions. Choose the juiciest, thinnest-skinned lemons and grapefruits you can find, since you'll be using all the juice and scraped rinds in the final cooking process. You'll need plenty of bowls for squeezing juice, a fine-mesh strainer, and a wide, heavy preserving pan or open kettle for boiling your final brew. Not having a 3-gallon copper preserving pan lying around, this last requirement stumped us for awhile, until someone remembered an old, cast-iron, enameled pan more often employed for frying fish. It slowed down the setting point a bit, but otherwise worked a treat. One more thing: it took a lot longer than thirty minutes of boiling for our marmalade to reach its setting point. So if yours doesn't seem to be thickening, don't panic; just stir frequently, enjoy the lovely fragrance and the frequent tastes as you transfer your test spoons to the freezer. FIND THE RECIPE HERE

Note: APM's The Splendid Table can be heard every Sunday at 2 pm on WRKF 89.3 FM.

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