Although you can make marmalade any time of the year, January & February are the only months in our area that you can buy marmalade oranges. These are not sweet eating oranges. They are tart and they are called Seville oranges. It is a lot of work but I really love my marmalade. Here is prepping the fruit. You only need to keep half of the white pith you shave off the rinds. Campinspecter has been following me today with the camera. Here are the rinds cut and ready for cooking. While the rind and pith are cooking, I chopped up the fruit. Marmalade oranges have lots of seeds. Got a little sidetracked so I didn't get a pic before I started boiling the sugar and fruit. Here is what it looked like after the boiling and adding the Certo. And the final product of 5 1/2 jars. The half jar will be tried out tomorrow on crumpets!
Cleaned the boiler, cleaned chimney, and ran the boiler. Four loads of wash. Baking and making marmalade. Woodwidow, YOU'RE A KEEPER. All my love, Campinspecter!
Aaaand, there ya' go. Exactly what I would have done. Oh, CI, don't forget the calzone. WW, when do you sleep?
Yesterday was different as Campinspecter is supposed to be taking it easy so I ended doing more than I would normally would. I love making jams, jelly and marmalade and this is the only time of year we can buy the marmalade oranges. They aren't a hot seller here.
So, I tried making pectin from the pith of some oranges and lemons last week. I followed the recipes exactly, but ended up with strawberry soup. Tasty, yes. Jam, no. Lots of smoothie material. Back to sure-jell, I guess.
I asked our Foods teacher about that and she said that the rind has the pectin and the seeds as well. Canadian Living magazine had a recipe for lemon blueberry spread and they used the lemon seeds for the pectin. I always use Certo as it is usually reliable. http://www.canadianliving.com/food/easy_blueberry_lemon_spread.php
Of course I was scanning FHC website while I was snacking. It's the food threads that make me hungry.
That looks awesome WW. My favorite is Orange Marmalade. Do you have a recipe, or as me a baker would say, a formula you could share with that. I'd like to give this a try. Orange Marmalade on a hot english muffin or a freshly toasted bagel, yum!
This is a very old recipe (or formula) that I have used for years. It is best made with marmalade oranges (Seville), very tart oranges. 3 c. prepared fruit (3 oranges, 2 lemons) 5 c (2 1/4 lbs) sugar 1/2 bottle Certo Prepare fruit. Remove skins in quarters from oranges and lemons. Lay quarters flat; shave off and discard about half of the white pith. With a sharp knife, slice the rind and remaining pith very fine. Add 1 1/2 c water and 1/8 tsp soda; bring to a boil and simmer, covered, 20 min; stir often. Chop peeled fruit, discard seeds (Seville oranges have lots of seeds) and add chopped fruit and juice to rind and pith in the pot. Simmer, covered, 10 min longer. Measure 3 c into a large pot. Add sugar; mix well. Place over high heat, bring to a full rolling boil and boil hard 1 min, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; at once stir in Certo. Stir for 7 mins to cool slightly then pour into jars (that have been heated in the oven at 200 F) and use canning lids and rings to seal. I then put the jars in a boiling water bath for 10 mins to make sure the seal is made. If you are not using canning jars, then use paraffin to seal. Variations: 2 small grapefruit for the fruit or: 2 oranges and 1 grapefruit or: 1 med size orange, 1 small grapefruit and 1 lemon.
WW, you give very good and precise directions. I can follow every step as you explain. I haven't canned since I was a kid, and that was helping my mother or grandmother and not because I wanted to either. My mom use to use paraffin. Don't you just melt it and pour on top about 3/8 - 1/2" thick and allow to cool? Any suggestions for melting so you don't mess up a pan or any good ideas for cleaning out a messed up pan? Maybe I should try the canning method. I could probably do this at the bakery I have an old candy stove there, a gas burner and a steam jacket. One of those should work. Next step, I need to look for some Seville Oranges. Thanks again. If you have daughters I bet they too are great cooks.
I would melt the paraffin in an tin can which should be placed inside a bigger tin can such as a big coffee can with water in it and bring the water to a boil. Pinch the wax can at the edge to make a pouring spout and use a pot holder when pouring. This way you don't need to worry about getting wax out of a good pot. Just heat the bigger can on the stove element or wood stove. I melt wax for candles this way. Just NEVER walk away and leave the wax melting by itself. You only need about 1/4" to 3/8" thick layer of wax on top of the jam. You can use regular oranges but the marmalade is sweeter than if you use Seville.
You make your own candles too!!! That is a great idea. I knew you'd have an answer. Sometimes common sense not so common.
