This ginger marmalade is the greatest I’ve ever had. I was recently dissatisfied with the flavour and texture of another ginger marmalade, so I looked online for a homemade version but could only find one extremely poor recipe. Based on an orange marmalade recipe, I made my own, and it was delicious.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 8 hrs |
| Total Time: | 8 hrs 35 mins |
| Servings: | 30 |
| Yield: | 5 1/2-pint jars |
Ingredients
- 3 ½ cups peeled fresh ginger
- 4 cups water
- 5 cups white sugar
- 1 (3 ounce) pouch liquid pectin
- 5 half pint canning jars with lids and rings
Instructions
- Divide the ginger in half, and chop half into cubes; shred the other half with a box grater or in a food processor using the shredding blade. Total ginger should equal 3 cups. Place the ginger into a large saucepan with water over medium heat, bring to a boil, and reduce heat to a simmer. Cover the pot, and simmer the ginger until tender, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Add more water if needed to keep mixture from drying out. Pour the cooked ginger into a fine-mesh strainer, drain, and retain 1/2 cup of the ginger-flavored water. Place the cooked ginger in a bowl with the retained liquid, and cool at least 4 hours or overnight in refrigerator.
- When ginger is thoroughly cooled, place into a large, heavy-bottomed pot, and stir in the sugar; bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in the pouch of liquid pectin, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for 7 more minutes, skimming foam from top of marmalade.
- Sterilize the canning jars and lids in boiling water for at least 5 minutes. Pack the marmalade into the hot, sterilized jars, filling the jars to within 1/4 inch of the top. Run a knife or a thin spatula around the insides of the jars after they have been filled to remove any air bubbles. Wipe the rims of the jars with a moist paper towel to remove any food residue. Top with lids, and screw on rings.
- Place a rack in the bottom of a large stockpot and fill halfway with water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then carefully lower the jars into the pot using a holder. Leave a 2 inch space between the jars. Pour in more boiling water if necessary until the water level is at least 1 inch above the tops of the jars. Bring the water to a full boil, cover the pot, and process for 15 minutes.
- Remove the jars from the stockpot and place onto a cloth-covered or wood surface, several inches apart, until cool. Once cool, press the top of each lid with a finger, ensuring that the seal is tight (lid does not move up or down at all). Store in a cool, dark area.
- This ginger marmalade is great on top of peanut butter toast. It can also be used as a glaze for ham or chicken, substituted for any jam in baking or as a dip for lamb instead of mint jelly. I just used the ginger that was available in the grocery store. I picked the freshest ginger that I could and it was fine.
- Processing times for safe canning vary by elevation and acidity of the canned product. See your county extension agent for detailed canning information for your area.
Reviews
I followed this recipe to the letter. The marmalade didn’t set up, so the next day, I emptied the jars back into the pot, heated it up and added another sleeve of pectin, simmering for 10 minutes. I re-processed the jars, and the marmalade again did not set up. For all the work of peeling and chopping so much ginger, this is a huge disappointment.
Loved this recipe. Followed it without any adjustments to ingredients. I did adjust preparation of the ginger root. After I read a British article on ginger I froze the peeled ginger for 24 hours before use. Freezing helps break down the fiber of the root. Worked like a charm.
I liked how easy it was to make. I used a powdered pectin instead of the liquid packet. I realized that I was able to amp up the zesty flavor by adding more of the left over water from simmering the ginger. Which I did. I also added the juice and zest of two Meyer lemons which gave the flavor more depth. Keep in mind the final consistency is more jam than jelly. Over all very pleased with the results and flavor!
Great recipe,I grated all ginger using coarse microplane(food processor grater clogged too easily) boiled jam for longer than recipe to jam setting point,then bottled and sterilised as per recipe. It set beautifully and looks divine.
Absolutely love this. Never ate ginger like this before. Sweet with a little bite.
Although I would call this jam not marmalade it is an excellent recipe. I don’t use a box grater as this makes the ginger stringy. I use my food processor only. Also I save the ginger water for drinks and save the peels for later. When I have finished with the ginger water, I mix it with other juice. I boil the saved peels and repeat. Thanks for the recipe. Also I store it in any container as I use it quite quickly and it is fine in the fridge.
Marmalade and cordial! I kept the liquid after you strain the fruit, mixed the liquid half and half with sugar and make a delicious cordial! You could also use it as a sweet hot tea. Instead of liquid pectin I used 2 tablespoons powdered pectin. I didn’t cool the mixture either, just strained it after cooking, added the powdered pectin, boiled a few minutes then added the sugar and hard boiled for another seven minutes. It turned out really well! I will make it again for sure.
First time making jam or marmalade and this turned out FABULOUS! After reading reviews I decided to food process all the ginger into little bits rather than making a grated+cube mix. I boiled it until I only had a little liquid left to make sure the ginger was starting to get tender (this took over an hour as stated in instructions, regardless of the ginger being in bits)l and not larger chunks). I let it cool as instructed then made my pectin mixture, since I bought Sure-Jell pectin powder instead of liquid. Then, I added 4 cups of sugar instead of 5 and let that simmer for a really long time on low until the liquid from sugar decreased then added my pectin. I let that simmer for a while.
I made a bitter orange/ginger/cardamom version with an extra cup of brown sugar. It turned out golden and rustic. The whole house smells amazing! Good recipe!
This is a great recipe. For those who didn’t like the texture, make sure you are only using ginger that cuts very easily. If it is tough or stringy it will probably be like that in the cooked product. Just for fun I added several drops of Doterra’s essential ginger oil. I agree with Cupcake about taking the mixture off the stove and stirring for 7 minutes. This makes sure the chunks of ginger will be well distributed.
Loved it – so powerful! I tamed it a little by adding a cooking apple and some lemon. I agree that the bits that are chopped up have to be very tiny to become soft – tried it with all grated ginger but it is better with some small bits of ginger in the mix.
The flavor is incredible – my whole extended family loves it spread on toast. I’ve made it a few times and once when toying around with the sugar content it came out quite liquid-y. No problem! A couple tablespoons of the syrupy version stirred into hot water tastes amazing (especially when you have a cold!). I also added it to carbonated water once to make ginger ale when my husband felt sick and we didn’t have ginger ale at home. The original recipe is awesome, though! Thanks.
Tastes delicious, but didn’t set up firmly enough. My guess is that draining the cooked ginger (the cooking worked fine for me, unlike for several of the reviewers here), and using 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid is too much; I’d guess the strained, cooked ginger has enough moisture for the marmalade. I’m also surprised by the direction to boil the ginger + cooking liquid + sugar for only one minute, but then boil an additional 7 minutes after addition of the pectin. Most jam recipes I’ve used that call for pectin are written exactly the opposite — cook the fruit + sugar for several minutes, add pectin, then cook one minute more.
I really liked this recipe but it didn’t set up terribly firm in my jars — maybe my liquid pectin pouches are smaller than the ones used? I didn’t think they would be, I just used a pouch of Certo liquid pectin and I find I tend to have this problem with liquid pectin in general… I’m debating whether or not to open all my jars and re-boil to get a more jelly marmalade. I did open one and try some on bread and it was so delicious the way it is! I followed the recipe pretty much exactly but I was very careful when shredding the ginger to stop when my piece was too fibrous to properly grate any more… I think this contributes to a possibly stringy/crunchy marmalade people experienced. I also think using a food processor for the grating might let some of those fibrous pieces sneak in. I didn’t cut very much of it into cubes as I was paranoid of a woody piece of ginger making it into the pot. The only change to the recipe I made was I added a few thinly sliced rings of a small orange for a bit of variation. It’s nice to see little flecks of orange in the jars. I also added a bit of green dye to make some jars into festive gifts for the holidays and those are very pretty — otherwise the marmalade turned out a lovely bright yellow. It’s a bit of a labour-intensive project but it is so tasty! I’d make this again, but I might use powdered pectin to see the difference. ETA: This recipe as-is has grown on me! Just know it’s not as firm as a “jelly” but not at all bad, very tasty
Your recipe is a lot like mine except I grate all my ginger & make larger batches also your recipe is great, Thank you for sharing
It was the first time I made ginger marmalade, and this recipes worked out very well. The taste is amazing! I made 2 changes: I used 1 cup instead of 1/2 cup of the ginger-flavored water, and I reduced the amount of sugar to 4 cups, which I think is plenty. Other than that I stuck to the recipe, and we love the result!
The recipe worked out well, but it had a learning curve for me as I had never cooked ginger before. Some of the little cubes didn’t soften. I think it must depend a lot on the age of the ginger root. Also, one must be aware that the fiberous, stringy parts of old ginger root don’t soften much with cooking either. Don’t include them in your mix. That said, after I fished out the hard parts and the fiber, I made some great jam from the recipe.
This recipe makes absolutely amazing ginger marmalade. It is not very labor intensive and you get a phenomenal product. I like to eat it plain on toast or whisked with some garlic and soy sauce to make a teriyaki glaze. And don’t be afraid of the “chunks” of ginger, they become almost candied in the final product and give it a really nice texture.
This recipe does not work as it is written. The ginger in little ‘cubes’ becomes floating fibrous chunks. We boiled it for 3+ hrs in hopes the pieces would disintegrate but they didn’t. We added copious amounts of extra water for the long boil. Adding more water to create a reasonable consistency on the second day still left crunchy bits. In order to salvage the batch, we fished out the floating cubed bits, and added 1/2 cup lemon juice and 1/2 cup orange juice. We also used powdered pectin when we added the sugar rather than liquid pectin. It is delicious. I would like to give zero stars because you should find a different recipe but the smallest number allowed is 1
I made this on the weekend and it is the most flavourful ginger marmalade that I have ever tasted. I made one minor change to the directions on this marmalade because I have been making jam for years and years so after I added the pectin, I removed the pot from the heat and stirred and skimmed for 7 minutes instead of turning the pot to a simmer and cooking an additional 7 minutes with the pectin added to the pot.This is what I do with the other jams and marmalades that I have made. I also didn’t use the hot water bath in the recipe. I sterilized my jars by washing them in hot soapy water and rinsing in clean water, then I placed them in a pre heated 225 degree oven for 10 minutes. I washed the lids the same way and boiled them for 1 minute to sterilize. I poured the hot marmalade into the warm jars and immediately put the lid on and tightened. I have used this sterilization method for years and found that it is so quick and easy. This recipe made 2 1/2 500ml jam jars for me.