Blood Orange Marmalade
I was astounded a couple of weeks ago to find some very inexpensive blood oranges. Instead of devouring them as I did with the first couple of bags I bought, last week I decided to make some marmalade from them. Making marmalade from any kind of citrus is easy: Weight the fruit and cut it up, saving any trimmings and seeds to tie in a piece of cheesecloth. Add double the weight in water and bring to a boil; simmer 1 hour. Cool overnight. Next day, weigh the fruit and water mixture and add an equal weight of sugar. Cook to 222 degrees and pack in sterilized jars... That's it! Here's a more elaborated version with a few hints for making the process easier.
2 pounds blood oranges, preferably organic, rinsed well (I had just short of 2 pounds so I added a lemon)
2 quarts water
Sugar to equal the weight of the cooked fruit and water the next day (mine was 3.5 pounds)
Sterilized canning jars with 2-piece lids or sterilized lids and recycled jars
Trim the ends from the oranges; halve them or quarter them if large. If they are seedy, cut away the central piece of pith and pop out the seeds. Put any trimmings and seeds into a bowl lined with cheesecloth.
Use a very sharp stainless steel paring knife to cut the oranges paper thin as in the photo:
Put the sliced fruit into a 7-quart enameled iron Dutch oven. Add the water and tie up the cheesecloth w the seeds in it and add (photo above).
Bring to a boil and lower to a simmer:
Cook for an hour, then cover and leave overnight.
Next morning, weigh the fruit and water and stir in an equal weight of sugar:
Bring to a boil on high heat, then decrease heat slightly so that the mixture boils gently:
Don't bother skimming until the marmalade is completely cooked. Stir occasionally to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Cook to 222 degrees on an instant-read thermometer - it will take a little more then 30 minutes. Slide the thermometer through a hole in a slotted spoon so that you can hold it over the boiling mixture without scalding the back of your hand:
Slide the pan off the hot burner, let the marmalade top boiling, then use a shallow ladle to skim any foam from the surface:
Set a shallow bowl near the pan of marmalade and place a sterilized jar in the bowl; set a jar funnel atop the jar and fill gradually to 1/4-inch of the top:
Cover with a sterilized lid and hold the hot jar using a pot holder to tighten the lid.
Cool the jars. As these have not been pressure canned in boiling water, the marmalade should be stored refrigerated.
