This Calamansi Marmalade Recipe is made with fresh calamansi, water, sugar and a touch of honey. It's a labour of love, but worth it.
Anyone else really into that Meghan Markle show on Netflix? I actually really love it. We could actually be besties. We have the same love language. Making great food and leveling it up by just adding some fancy garnishes or just placing the food on a lux platter.
The other day my local Filipino grocery store actually had green calamansi! Oh so rare. Usually they are sold in the US as more orange tiny orbs. With Meghan as my inspo, I had to preserve these green Calamansi into marmalade.
Marmalade is a jelly made from a citrus fruit. The juices are squeezed out and the fruit is boiled to activate the pectin. Then it's left to cool overnight so that the pectin really comes out. Pectin is a plant fiber that has natural gelling properties. Apples, berries and citrus fruits are high in pectin and our tiny but mighty Calamansi can produce quite a bit, so it's perfect to make marmalade with.
I have to warn you that there is some labour involved to make this, but in the end it will be all worth it.
What is Calamansi?
Calamansi or Kalamansi is a native tiny citrus fruit from the Philippines. It has more juice than a lime and more pucker than a lemon. Calamansi can be used in juices, marinades, dipping sauces (sawsawan), making sweet bakes or even flavorful noodles. A truly versatile fruit!
Ingredients
Calamansi - You would need to use fresh calamansi for this recipe. Weigh out 400g of calamansi.
Water - Use 3 cups of water.
Sugar - White sugar is best so that the marmalade is clear, but if you have access to Filipino muscovado, please use that.
Honey - I didn't include it in the photo below as I forgot (sorry) but you will need 2 tablespoons of local honey just for added flavor.
Step 1: Pre-Boil Your Calamansi
This is a two day process. You can't rush making pectin from scratch!
Cut the calamansi in half and make sure to take off the tiny stem part on the top.
Squeeze out the juice over a bowl with a sieve in it to catch the seeds. Squeeze out any juice through the sieve.
Pour the juice into a container and cover. Place in the refrigerator until tomorrow. At this point put a small plate in the freezer. We will use that plate tomorrow to test the doneness of the Calamansi Marmalade.
Meanwhile we are goin to pre-boil the calamansi halves. So use a heavy bottomed pot preferably a dutch oven and add the calamansi halves along with the 3 cups of water.
Bring up to a rapid boil and then turn down the heat a bit and leave to simmer for 20 minutes.
Take off the heat and leave to cool to room temperature completely. Once cool, cover and leave in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
Step 2: Prep for Calamansi Marmalade
The next day you will see that the inside of the calamansi halves (the pith) have puffed up. It's now filled with pectin. We are going to harvest that out.
Place a sieve over a bowl again and take a calamansi and using your thumb push out the insides of the calamansi.
You should now be left with just the skin. Put the skins in your food processor bowl or on a cutting board if you are slicing them by hand. Repeat that process with the rest of the calamansi.
Now you will have this pectin rich calamansi in the sieve.
Use a back of a large spoon to press out the pectin.
You can see the jelly on the underside of the sieve. Don't forget to scrape that off.
Keep pressing the on the piths until no more pectin is coming out of the sieve.
Gosh look at all that jelly and naturally made too. So perfect for Calamansi Marmalade making.
The next step is to mince up the calamansi skin. You can use a food processor to do this or manually with a knife.
If you are using a food processor blitz until you have tiny dice of skin. If you are using a knife you can either do super thin strips or also do a fine dice.
Step 3: Cooking the Calamansi Marmalade
Now that everything is prepped we can now actually cook the Calamansi Marmalade. Put the fresh calamansi juice in the pot along with the diced skin and pectin rich calamansi jelly. Top with the 1 cup of sugar and drizzle in about 2 tablespoons of honey.
Mix it well.
Probably better to mix it all with a whisk so that there are no lumps.
Place on the stove and bring up to a rapid boil.
Turn down the heat slightly and start skiing off the foam of the top. This step is not necessary, but if you do skim it off you will have more clear Calamansi Marmalade.
Place the foam on a small plate to discard when you are done.
This is the Calamansi Marmalade at the 20 minute mark. It's still a bit foggy and watery.
To test if you are done, we are going to do the frozen plate method. Remember that plate I told you to put in the freezer? Well take it out and place a spoon of Calamansi Marmalade on it. You will notice it will still spread at this point. Place the plate back in the freezer.
At 25 minutes it has cooked down more. You can stop here if you want your marmalade slightly runny.
Again take out the plate and place a spoon of Calamansi Marmalade on it. Now it's a bit more firm, but still spreadable. If you are going to keep cooking place the plate in the freezer again.
At 30 minutes you can see that the marmalade is more clear and it leaves a line when you put a whisk through it.
Do the plate test again. Now it looks more like a jelly and totally holds its shape.
You can see all the different phases here. Bottom is at 20 min, the top left is 25 minutes and at the very top is at 30 minutes.
Turn off the heat and transfer the Calamansi Marmalade into clean jars. If you want to can it properly follow these directions.
This recipe will fit one 6oz jar and one 2 oz jar. Or you can just put it in an 8 oz jar.
How To Store and What to Serve With It
I did not can my Calamansi Marmalade. By can I mean using sterilized jars and boiling them to seal. If you do that yours will last until you break the seal.
If you are like me and did not seal them, put it in the refrigerator and use within one month.
There are many ways to use this
You can serve these on a Filipino themed charcuterie board board along with some Kesong Puti and Skyflakes.
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Equipment
- Dutch Oven or Heavy Bottomed Pot
- Small Plate that is freezer safe
- Sieve
- Bowl
- Clean 8 oz Jar with Lid
Ingredients
- 400 grams Fresh Calamansi
- 3 Cups Water
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Honey
Instructions
- Note making Marmalade is a two day process. Please keep this in mind before starting.
Day 1 - Make Pectin
- Cut the calamansi in half and make sure to take off the tiny stem part on the top. Squeeze out the juice over a bowl with a sieve in it to catch the seeds. Squeeze out any juice through the sieve.
- Pour the juice into a container and cover. Place in the refrigerator until tomorrow. At this point put a small plate in the freezer. We will use that plate tomorrow to test the doneness of the Calamansi Marmalade.
- Add the calamansi halves that have been juiced into your dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot along with 3 cups of water.
- Bring up to a rapid boil and then turn down the heat a bit and leave to simmer for 20 minutes.
- Take off the heat and leave to cool to room temperature completely. Once cool, cover and leave in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
Day 2 - Part 1 (The Prep)
- The next day you will see that the inside of the calamansi halves (the pith) have puffed up. It's now filled with pectin. We are going to harvest that out.
- Place a sieve over a bowl again and take a calamansi and using your thumb push out the insides of the calamansi.
- You should now be left with just the skin. Put the skins in your food processor bowl or on a cutting board if you are slicing them by hand. Repeat that process with the rest of the calamansi.
- Now you will have this pectin rich calamansi in the sieve. Use a back of a large spoon to press out the pectin. You can see the jelly on the underside of the sieve. Don't forget to scrape that off. Keep pressing the on the piths until no more pectin is coming out of the sieve. Leave in the bowl for now.
- The next step is to mince up the calamansi skin. You can use a food processor to do this or manually with a knife. If you are using a food processor blitz until you have tiny dice of skin. If you are using a knife you can either do super thin strips or also do a fine dice.
Day 2 - Part 1 (The Cooking)
- Put the fresh calamansi juice in your pot along with the diced skin and pectin rich calamansi jelly. Top with the 1 cup of sugar and drizzle in about 2 tablespoons of honey. Use a whisk to mix well.
- Place on the stove and bring up to a rapid boil. Turn down the heat slightly and start skiing off the foam of the top. This step is not necessary, but if you do skim it off you will have more clear Calamansi Marmalade.
- Cook for 25-30 minutes while stirring constantly.
- To test if the Calamansi Marmalade is done, we are going to do the frozen plate method. Remember that plate I told you to put in the freezer? Well take it out and place a spoon of Calamansi Marmalade on it after 25 minutes. It will hold it's shape and will slightly wrinkle when touched.
- You can stop here if you want your marmalade slightly runny.
- Cook for a further 5 minutes (for a total of 30 min cooking time) if you want a firmer marmalade.
- Transfer to a clean jar and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.
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