How to Make Blood Orange Marmalade

The dining room table was dripping with sticky red blood -- blood oranges that is. Today was my revenge, served cold on my husband the “food critic” who for the past twenty plus years has moaned and groaned about my reluctance to put up a pantry filled with home canned vegetables, fruits, and jellies. My sweetheart loves labor intensive foods and I'm wise to the fact that it is usually solely my labor in these endeavors.

Now that he’s seventy years old, rather than endure another long-winded West Virginia memory stroll about how his mom always canned “all” their food -- I decided if he wants home canned food -- he’s entitled to get it. After all, even old men need to win a few arguments.

After sweetly pointing out that all of his old-timey ideas are just wonderful, while simultaneously explaining how laborious canning can be, I struck a bargain. We would use up all of those oranges he picked (since we can’t possibly eat that many oranges before they rot) -- as long as he did all the work.

We selected eight medium to large blood oranges for this family project. (We actually used only six of them as I took into consideration that it is impossible for my husband to be around food of any kind without sampling). Oranges from your backyard aren't as pretty as the ones you'll find at your local grocery store.

The reason is that not everyone is aware that the retail oranges are usually (but not always) dyed with food coloring to make them appear more attractive. Additionally, oranges and other citrus are lightly waxed to give them a shine. Visit any orange grove or backyard tree and you might be disappointed in how most of the oranges look. It's not about the outside, it's what's on the inside in terms of taste that is real.

It is perfectly OK to buy your blood oranges at the grocery store, however, in our case the oranges are there for the picking.

If you are unfamiliar with blood oranges, they get their name from the crimson red color you'll find when you slice them. Here in Florida where we don't get a lot of colder weather at night, the blood oranges grown here will not be the darker maroon color found in blood oranges from other countries, especially Italy and Spain.

The blood orange's scientific name is Citrus sinensis and aside from the coloring this orange variety generally has a thicker skin which makes it tougher to peel. It is also not quite as pretty as other orange fruit types. Popular uses for blood oranges aside from making marmalade are:

• Salads
• Vinaigrette dressings
• Gelato
• Sorbet
• Flavorings for pastries and beer
• Italian sodas

In terms of taste, the blood orange is often one of the sweetest oranges, but don't be deceived. Blood oranges can also be tart. Some claim that it also has a hint of raspberry flavor.

Almost all marmalade recipes are quite simple, both in ingredients and in the making (despite the fact that there are a number of steps involved). The ingredients needed for Blood Orange Marmalade are:

• 6-8 blood oranges (depending on size)
• 6 cups of granulated pure cane sugar
• 1 lemon
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups of water
• 1 package of pectin

Basic supplies for making marmalade:

• 6 1/2 pint canning jars
• sharp paring knife
• canning funnel
• potato masher

Instructions:

• Thoroughly wash and scrub the outside of all blood oranges and lemon
• Remove the peels from the blood oranges and the lemon
• Scrape off all excess white from the peels
• Cut peels into fine strips (some cooks, as I do, go a step further and mince them finely)
• Add 1/ 1/2 cups water, cut up or minced blood orange peels and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda in a sauce pan and bring to a boil
• Simmer for ten minutes
• Remove as much of the white membrane on the blood orange and lemon
• Section fruit
• Mix fruit, juice, and undrained blood orange peel
• Cover and simmer for 25 minutes
• Remove from heat and measure out three cups of cooked fruit mixture
• In larger pot, add mixture and a full six cups of sugar and bring to a full boil
• Remove from heat
• Add one package of fruit pectin
• Skim off any foam
• Immediately pour into hot sterilized canning jars
• Seal with lids and rings

Makes 6 half pints

Notes: As the jars cool at room temperature, you should hear a popping sound for each one indicating that you have properly sealed the marmalade jars.

Pectin is the natural glue that holds together your jams, jellies, and marmalade. It is a natural gelling agent, made from citrus. It also acts as a thickener and stabilizer binding agent in cooking. Other uses are:

• Confectioneries

• Medicine

• Fruit Juices and other beverages (as a stabilizer)

In case you've ever wondered about what the difference is between marmalade, jam, and jelly -- the explanations are quite simple:

• Jam is simply the fruit that has been cooked thoroughly with sugar resulting in a very thick spreadable mixture.
• Jelly, on the other hand is simply made from the juice of the fruit plus sugar. Clear and if properly rendered it should even sparkle when held to the light.
• Originally, marmalade was jam made from tart and bitter Seville orange. However, today marmalade is also made with most varieties of oranges by adding the peel (for the tartness).

Luckily for me, I've known how to can, make jam, jelly, and marmalade since I was quite young. I give thanks to growing up in a household and generation where such valuable skills were taught and a part of everyday life. I was even luckier today that the "food critic" was quite pleased with his first venture into this foreign world. He found out that making marmalade is easy, a little labor intensive, but worth the effort. When we were all done he wondered aloud, "Can't we just throw it all into a blender, that's a lot of work for only six jars! I picked eighty-four oranges -- that's a lot of work." It was hard not to laugh, after all revenge is sweet and a little sticky. It's a good thing I stifled that laugh since it dawned on me that the joke was really on me -- I had no idea that he had picked that many oranges!

If my seventy-year-old husband can make marmalade, anyone can with a little effort. Good luck with yours!

So in case you don't have success the first time you attempt to make marmalade, here are some clues as to what went wrong:

Cloudy marmalade

• You allowed the marmalade to cool before pouring into canning jars
• You allowed too much pulp to remain in the mixture
• You used green not quite ripe fruit

Sugar crystals in the marmalade

• Too much sugar
• Under cooking
• Overcooking
• Cooked at too low of heat
• Allowed marmalade to sit, uncovered, after opening

Stiff or tough marmalade

• Boiled marmalade mixture too long
• Used too much pectin

To make the blood orange recipe above the following expenses were incurred:

.59 Baking soda

1.23 Canning funnel

3.97 Mashing utensil

2.98 Pectin (3 packets)

.44 Lemon

7.47 Canning jars (total 12 jars)

TOTAL: $2.78 (keeping in mind that our fruit was free for the picking)

For us, this blood orange marmalade was just slightly cheaper per jar than purchasing marmalade at local grocery chain stores. On average their price for the same size jar of marmalade is $3.29.