When life gives you oranges, make marmalade...

I guess it all started when my mom was a teenager and learned how to make this delicious orange marmalade.  Almost 60 years later, she still makes about 3 dozen jars every year from the trees in her backyard.  Then, she gave me the recipe and for the last 20 years, I've been making it on and off depending on what I can get my hands on!  For the last 8 years, I've been fortunate enough to be invited to the annual orange picking party in Riverside at Sandy's place, a friend of our good friend June.  Now June is a veteran.  She's been going there for 23 years, only missing one party!  This year, I brought Darrell with me.  He was like a kid in a candy store and started climbing trees!  The crop was plentiful and for 3 hours, he picked oranges only to stop briefly to take a sip of fresh squeeze mimosas that June would send out from the deck!  Those long orange pickers are very handy... 


About 20 grocery bags later, Darrell made a lot of people happy, some he knew and some he didn't, and then we started squeezing and cooking!  This month, we've been buried in vitamin C and last week, we made 36 jars of marmalade!    So to make a long story short, if you get a jar of this marmalade, you have to thank a lot of people: my mom for the recipe, June for the connection, Sandy for the oranges, Darrell for the picking and slicing and your host for cooking and posting! It takes 3 days to make this marmalade but it is the best I've ever had.  It has converted many and addicted the rest.  So find a tree, pick oranges and start slicing!


Orange Marmalade
It takes about 1 orange to make 1 (8-ounce) jar.  For about 10 oranges, use an 8-quart heavy stockpot.

On the first day, wash the oranges throughly.  Then cut them in half and slice them as thin as possible.  Discard the ends.  Save the seeds if any and wrap them in a small cheesecloth tied with kitchen string to make a small bag.  Add 1 lemon cut in the same way for every 6 oranges and wrap the lemon seeds in the bag too.  I also collect lemon seeds from other lemons and add them to the bag.  (Lemons have more pectin than oranges and you'll need the seeds to thicken the marmalade.)


Weight the fruits and measure 1800 milliliters of water for each kilo of fruits (1000 grams).  Place the fruits, water and seeds in a large bowl and refrigerate overnight.


On the second day, pour this mixture into a large saucepan and bring to a slow boil.  Boil for one hour.  Cool and place back in the large bowl.  Refrigerate overnight.


On the third day, discard the cheesecloth bag with the seeds after squeezing it tightly.  Weight this mixture and add 1300 grams of granulated sugar for every kilo (1000 grams) of the mixture.  Mix well into a large saucepan, bring to a slow boil and boil gently for 1 hour, skimming as necessary.

Test the marmalade by pouring a small amount on a plate and placing it in the freezer to cool quickly.  If it is thick enough, it is time to can, otherwise keep cooking for another 15 minutes.


Place the jam while it's hot into hot sterilized jars.  I place the empty jars in the dishwasher when the marmalade starts boiling.  I run a full cycle to sterilize and heat the jars.  I use self-sealing jars and the marmalade keeps for about a year.