I love Orange Marmalade—the sweet jam accented by the slightly bitter bits of rind is the perfect topping for buttered toast. My brother Brad used to keep me in a good supply of his tart homemade version, but now that he’s traded his orange grove in for a pear orchard, I’ve found myself wanting, and I set out to make my own.
I have a Morro Blood Orange tree in my garden, and I have made blood orange marmalade before. Of course I can’t remember how. So I looked at all sorts of recipes, and gee whiz, what a pain! Some call for boiling halved oranges, then soaking, then chopping. Some call for removing the peel with a peeler, then cutting away all the pith, then slicing the denuded oranges and then finally cooking—but I was looking at roughly 6 pounds of juicy fruit. I finally found one that seemed good: juice the oranges, thinly slice the peels—that I can handle, but then it called for wrapping all the seeds and membranes in 4 layers of cheesecloth and cooking the bundle along with the juice—forget it.
So here is what I decided to do: I scrubbed and squeezed the oranges, yielding 5 cups of juice. As I was finely slicing the peels, I realized that all the peels would be too much (and take forever to prepare), so I settled on 5 cups sliced peel. I simmered the juice and peel in a large heavy pot until the peels were tender and the mixture thickened to a jam-like consistency, about 45 minutes.
Then I added sugar by the cupful until the sweetness seemed just right, and wouldn’t you know? I added exactly 5 cups of sugar. I then simmered and stirred the mixture 5 minutes longer, and ladled it into sterilized jars. I love basic-formula recipes like this—simple, delicious, easy to remember and the recipe can be used for any amount of oranges, blood or Valencia.
Marmalade Recipe
Equal parts fresh orange juice and thinly sliced peel-
Simmer until mixture thickens to a jam-like consistency. Add equal part sugar and simmer slowly a few minutes longer.
Jeanne Kelley is an established food writer, recipe developer and food stylist based in Los Angeles, California. Integrating locally grown produce with globally influenced flavors, Kelley’s approach to cooking is both simple, festive and fresh. Her recipes can be found in her latest book is Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes: Recipes from a Modern Kitchen Garden