Drew2apps b01c168713af29d87af6c00da8e5ffe0d7f960bd07af50900adb21f49884aa37

Stone Saison Kumquat Marmalade


Saison’s are one of my favorite beer styles. They are a light and fruity beer that is perfect to enjoy on a hot summer day. For this recipe I was trying to track down the Stone Saison but was only able to locate the Stone Saison de Buff. Although I prefer the original Saison to drink, this one blended quite well with the marmalade. The Saison de Buff is brewed with sage, lemon thyme, rosemary, and parsley which makes for an interesting combination. 
Marmalde cover

Ingredients

  • 3 cups of loosely filled minced kumquats
  • Zest and juice of half a pomelo
  • 2 star anise
  • 1 ¾ cup of sugar
  • Pinch of cayenne pepper
  • 1 12 oz Saison

Instructions

Preparing the kumquats is the only hard part of the recipe and is more time consuming than hard, but in the end it is worth it. You’ll need to slice each kumquat in fourths and remove the seeds with the extra optional step of removing the white membrane in the middle. Removing the membrane gives the marmalade it’s gorgeous color and everyone likes a good looking marmalade. Once the membrane is removed you can slice the kumquats into small pieces.  After your wrists feel like they are about to fall off, you should be getting close to around 3 cups of the diced kumquats. Next, get the zest of the pomelo and dice the pomelo zest it into tiny pieces.

The remaining steps are pretty easy. Combine the kumquats and zest into a large mixing bowl and pour in the beer, sugar, juice of the pomelo, star anise, and cayenne pepper. Give it a stir to mix everything up and cover with a cloth to sit for a few hours. I used this extra time to go and retrieve extra beer from my local brewery.

After the mixture has had time to sit for a few hours, it’s time to start the cooking! Pour the mixture into a large pot and bring it to medium heat. Once the concoction starts to bubble, bring it down to a simmer and continue stirring occasionally to prevent anything from burning or sticking. Since the Saison is quite a bit of liquid, this might require a bit of time to reduce. It took about 45 minutes for me. After cooking for about 10-15 minutes remove the star anise since it has done its job.  It’s best to continue stirring until you start to see it thicken. The secret is if you can drag your mixing spoon across the bottom of the pot and see the bottom for about a quarter of a second, you’re finished!
 

Remove your pot from the stove and let sit or pour the marmalade into jars, or whatever you prefer. Marmalade is best served cold but is also tasty to enjoy while warm. Enjoy!

Gallery


Other Suggestions

  • Belgian / French Ales
    • Saison
    • Lambic/Sour
    • Witbier
    • Dubble
    • Triple
  • German Ales
    • Hefewizen
    • Weizenbock
    • Gose
    • Dunkelweizen
  • Wheat Ale
  • German Oktoberfest Lager

Beer Review

This is a complex beer where you can taste the herbal flavors. The sage, lemon, thyme, rosemary, and parsley blends together and is the main flavor tasted. It is not as sour or hoppy as other saisons but still has the funky saison taste. I wish that the herb blend was a little subtler to allow the saison flavors to emerge. Not my go to farmhouse ale but still worth trying. I rate this 6.5/10.

Closing

Only a few things in life beat putting the fresh marmalade on a nice croissant and relaxing while someone else does all the dishes the next day. I liked how the marmalade turned out, it had a nice citrus kick with a complex finish. Since you’ll probably have a lot of left over marmalade, it also makes a great gift! Or not! Keep your marmalade and hoard it to yourself and don’t share with those peasants. It’s your marmalade.