About 6 weeks ago my friend Mary, emailed me to say that her blood oranges from her tree(yeah-she has a tree) were almost ripe and wanted to drop some off for me to enjoy. I was elated and anxiously awaited the bag.
One morning, upon arriving home from a yoga class, there on my doorstep, was HUGE bag of blood oranges and their leaves. I washed and dried the oranges and put them in a vessel and placed them on my dining room table. It took me days to figure out what I was going to make with them, but I wasn’t in a rush. I was merely enjoying their abundance.
In my files (my overly thick file of recipes I am dying to make) was a recipe for Meyer Lemon Marmalade. I had a big star on this recipe. I had filed it with the hopes of using the Meyer lemons from my tree. Yet, as I look at the gorgeous bowl of blood oranges sitting on my dining room table, it occurred to me that blood orange marmalade would suit me well as well as those I was gifting it to.
Blood Orange Marmalade
Adapted from Epicurious
Yield: 6½ pints
Ingredients:
8 (1 1/2 lbs) blood oranges
4 cups water
4 cups sugar
1/2 vanilla bean
Instructions:
Halve the blood oranges. quarter each blood orange, half and thinly slice.
Combine with the water in a 5-quart heavy pot and let mixture stand, covered, at room temperature 24 hours.
Add seeds from the vanilla bean (cut vanilla bean in half. run a pairing knife down the center of the vanilla bean half and open it up. Scrape out the seeds and add to the mixture). Bring blood orange mixture to a boil over moderate heat.
Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until reduced to 4 cups, about 45 minutes.
Stir in sugar and boil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally until a teaspoon of mixture dropped on a cold plate gels, about 15 minutes.
Fill mason jars with marmalade, filling to within 1/4 inch of top. Wipe rims with dampened cloth and seal jars with lids.
Put jars in a deep pot. Add enough hot water to cover jars by 1 inch and bring to a boil, cover, 5 minutes and transfer with tongs to a rack.
Cool jars completely.
Susan Salzman writes The Urban Baker blog to explore her dedication to good food in the hope of adding beauty to the lives of her family and friends.