Yummy carrot marmalade - our first try at back to the basics

My mother and I decided that NOW was the time to begin learning the basics all over again.  Listening to Glenn Beck today affirmed we were moving in the right direction.  Many of us have forgotten how to do the simplest things – like making jelly and canning fresh fruits and vegetables.  Drying fruit and making leathers.  Making candles. Making Christmas gifts instead of “buying into” the holiday season frenzy(pun intended).

So we are setting about to learn how to do all of the above and more. Some things are just recalling what we once knew – and some things we have to learn from scratch.  And, we will make mistakes, but in the words of Benjamin Franklin, we won’t fail at anything – we will just find “100 ways to do it wrong.” And we will share with you as we go through our “experiments” and perhaps get some advice from all of you along the way.

Oh, and we should warn you, we have a propensity to try things out of the typical realm of preserving. With that in mind, we looked in our cupboards (well, actually in our fridge) and found that we had carrots. Lots and lots of carrots. So, we started looking for carrot recipes and found one for carrot marmalade.  Below is the recipe we used.  We made some changes based on our discoveries along the way.

Carrot Marmalade

Ingredients:
2 pounds carrots, sliced
3 pounds sugar
8 key limes
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Directions:
Steam or cook carrots until tender. Mash carrots leaving small chunks. Add sugar, the juice of the limes, the rind of 3 limes one lemon, and the chopped pecans. Put on stove with medium fire. When mixture starts to boil, time for 20 ??? minutes, stirring occasionally. We do recommend  you use a sterilized measuring cup to pour mixture into jars. (This will allow for the same amount of liquid in each jar).

Seal according to manufacturer’s directions. Process 10 minutes for jars sized up to 1 pint in boiling water bath.

Makes 3 pints with a little left over. The leftovers can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 months without sealing.

How did it turn out?  Well, it makes a great candy – but is a little too thick for marmalade.  We think we overcooked it.  All you old-time canners are probably chuckling, and we have made one mistake with 99 to go.  We didn’t have lemons on hand so we decided to use limes. The juice of the limes gave the brew a nice flavor but the lime rinds were so tough the toothiest beaver would have a challenge chewing through them.  So – use the lime juice but toss the rinds.  Down to 98.

That was all for this batch. Nothing makes you feel better than hearing the magic ping as the jar seals.  When we figure out the whole carrot puzzle, we will let you know.

One final word.  We live in a very humid area at or below sea level.  This may make some things work for us but not for you – and visa versa.

But, remember, don’t be afraid of making mistakes.  You will not fail – but you may find 100 things not to do.