What's Good About the Morning?

That's what a vendor at Alemany said, jokingly, to a customer who wished him a good morning. And understandably so: San Francisco mornings are now brisk and gray; the rains are only a few weeks away. Though we may benefit from it, no one looks forward to monsoon season.

It was a good morning, though. Guisell, the wonderful owner of Sabores del Sur, gave me an alfajor, because I looked like I needed it.

The De Santis family stand had lovely, weird citrus fruits, like calamondins, variegated pink lemons (like the one above), and bright orange limes. The sign said "rang pure lime," but I haven't found any references to that name anywhere.

Pickles and Preserves features recipes for a number of weird and old-fashioned fruits: the marmalade chapter alone has recipes that include greengage plums, crab apples, quince, and even calamondins.

I adapted a lime marmalade recipe submitted to Pickles and Preserves by Mrs Everette Rogers of The National Hotel in Leesburg, Florida. Instead of straight lemons and limes, I used orange limes and variegated lemons.

Lime Marmalade

6 large limes
1 lemon
1 cup sugar

Wash fruit, then slice finely with a mandoline, discarding seeds and pieces of pith. Cover with water and boil for 20 minutes.

Measure the mixture and add enough sugar for a 2/1 fruit to sugar ratio; I had about 2 cups of hot fruit, so I added 1 cup of sugar.

Boil over low heat until you reach desired thickness, around 45 minutes. Process in sterilized jars.