Trying my Hand at Orange Marmalade

I have never made orange marmalade – cherry, elderberry and strawberry jam, sure. Crab apple jelly since I was young and we had an old fashioned crab apple tree in the front year.  But never a marmalade.

I am encouraged to try this because I watched an Ina Garten episode on Food Channel recently where she made a gift breakfast basket.  Since I am already in the process of making cast iron bread today, and because I have a lot of oranges on hand, in part purchased for the local orioles I am trying to attract, I thought, well why not?  Freshly baked bread and orange marmalade sounds like a winning combination to me.

My laptop was in the office, shut down,  and rather than get it and find Ina’s recipe on line, I grabbed my trusty copy of The Joy of Cooking to see if an orange marmalade was in there.  This book has everything…and yep, there is the recipe, remarkably like Ina’s.  So between what I remember from her show, and my cookbook open on the counter, I make my version.

It takes place over 2 days, so plan to start ahead, and let the oranges and lemons sit overnight. Use navel oranges (no seeds) and fresh firm lemons.

While Ina cut the fruit by hand with a knife,  I actually found that using a food mandolin worked great for making even, thin slices.  I only used a knife when the halves got too small for the mandolin, when the orange flattened out, and to cut out the hard ends.  I also used my hand to hold the fruit, not the pusher, so that I could twist the fruit a bit, getting it sliced all the way across.

I don’t normally eat processed sugar, so I used half cane sugar, which will lend a bit of caramel flavor, and half processed white sugar.

Since I added spices, my suggestion is to tie them up in cheesecloth or use a tea ball – I forgot and ended up fishing out pieces while I jarred it.  Also use a thermometer to make sure the mix reaches the “jamming point” of  220F. My pot got to 212F and stuck there until I turned the heat to high, in order to reach a really hard boil, then reduce it a bit to prevent splattering until getting to the 220F mark.  It will take 35-45 minutes, or longer, to reach the right temperature, and the marmalade will darken in color as the sugar cooks and caramelizes. Don’t rush it, or your marmalade will be runny.  And don’t overcook, or the rinds will be chewy.

And use a large pot to help contain the hot splattering sticky liquid.  Just saying.

I also wanted mine to really taste like spices, so when I tasted the liquid jelly, and it was not enough for my liking, I added a bit of ground nutmeg and 1/8 tsp of ground cardamom, stirred in at the end.   Uses whatever spices you like, or none at all. Coriander would echo the lemon bits, and cloves would be great.  Why didn’t I remember to add them too?

This recipe will make a few jars, so some to eat, and, like Ina, some to give away.  For water bath processing instructions visit the Ball canning website. The marmalade will keep 3-4 weeks in the fridge, or a year once canned and processed.

I wonder if the Baltimore Orioles (the birds, not the baseball team) will like it as much as the store bought stuff?

Maybe next I’ll try the Ginger Marmalade recipe I see in The Joy of Cooking…..