Orange Marmalade. The Epic Tale.

Orange Marmalade is a wonderful substance! Over the weekend my parents and I took the time to make 56 half pints of it. The oranges came off one tree in their back yard. We all took estimates on how many oranges there were. My dad said 40...Momma said 100ish...I said around 160. Dad, it turns out was dead wrong. Though we didn't count to see exactly how many there were there were a whole lot more than 40. Now onto the how to's. First things first, do not attempt to make this unless you have a full 2 days to devote to it. Also, you may want to invest in a electric juicer.

The recipe! We loosely used the recipe found in the Ball Blue Book guide to preserving. You can find this very handy book at most major retailers and book stores or on their website www.freshpreserving.com

2 cups thinly sliced orange peel (about 10 medium)

1 quart chopped orange pulp (about 2 medium)

1 cup thinly sliced and seeded lemon (about 2 medium)

1 1/2 quarts water

Sugar

Combine all ingredients, except sugar in a large sauce pot; simmer 5 minutes. Cover and let stand 12 to 18 hours in a cool place. Cook rapidly until peel is tender. Measure fruit and liquid. Add one cup of sugar for each cup fruit mixture, stirring until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Cook rapidly almost to gelling point. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle hot marmalade into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Adjust 2 piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

Alright, that was the basic recipe, now this is how we did it, again we loosely used the Ball recipe.

Step 1: Gather oranges.

Step 2: Cut and juice Oranges. Save the pulp.

Step 3: Cut skin off of the juiced oranges. Set aside.

Step 4: Slice lemons thinly as recipe stated.

Step 5: Either cut up peels until they reach desired size by hand, or put them in a food processor to break them up to the size you want. We used the food processor.

Step 6: Though the recipe calls for water, we had so much juice from the oranges that we just used it. Combine the ingredients except for the sugar, simmer 5 minutes and let sit for 12 to 18 hours.

Step 7: This is where our recipe and the Ball recipe differs. We wanted some more flavor in our marmalade than just orange. During the holidays we make a hot punch with cloves, allspice, and cinnamon. So we made sachets of these spices to sit in the orange slurry for the entire 12 to 18 hours.

Step 8: The next day... remove sachets, measure how much slurry you have. Add sugar to slurry, and mix well until sugar is dissolved.

Step 9: Bring mixture to a boil stirring constantly. It took us 20 minutes of constant stirring at a rolling boil to reach gelling point.

Step 10: When you believe your marmalade is at the gel point, use the spoon test to check its consistancy.

Side note: this is what our marmalade looked like when it was ready to put into jars.

Step 11: Skim foam and ladle mixture into jars leaving a 1/4 inch head room. 

Step 12: Put lids and rings on jars tightly. This is another place we differ from the recipe. Because the marmalade is so hot when it is put in the jars, processing it again is not really necessary. All of our jars sealed without processing. And you are done! Here is the finished product, perfectly staged by my wonderful detail obsessed Momma.