Recipes

[Beebee2]

Friends and neighbors have laden us with the sweetest Meyer lemons and seedless delicious oranges, and so I've been busy making marmalade this week. I made a Meyer lemon marmalade with crystallized ginger, but don't care for it. My husband loves marmalade, so he'll take care of it.

But the orange marmalade I made is another story; it is so sweet and so delicious. It's also easy with the right kind of peeler. I have an Oxo regular vegetable peeler, but unlike the old Swedish peeler that mom peeled her potatoes with, the Oxo takes just the very thinest layer of peel, leaving no pith on the zest. The zest then is easily stacked and sliced into thin slivers. Can do easy.

I learned a few things about making marmalde this week, the most important being the final temperature. The ideal temperature seems to be 220 deg F for the perfect clean citrus flavor, but it makes the marmalade just a little runny, o.k. if you have it on English muffins with their little craggy places to hold it, or even if you mix it with something else. To get it firmer, heating it higher 225 or so works but the flavor changes a little and takes on a kind of caramel touch, not at all unpleasant, but not as 'clean' as the 220 deg F pure citrus flavor. Here's the simple recipe. I cook it for 17 min and get the flavor we like and the texture we put up with.

Easy Orange Marmalade Recipe

3 large oranges, or four small ones
2 c, about 1 lb, white sugar; the same weight of sugar as the weight of your oranges, peeled.

No need to use special jam sugar or setting agent. Oranges have plenty of pectin in them so the marmalade will thicken up nicely even with regular sugar.

Use a peeler to remove a thin layer of zest from the oranges. Slice the zest thinly and put it aside.

Peel the white pith away from the oranges. Remove seeds. Chop the oranges finely and put them in a large bowl along with the zest. A 3L or 3 quart bowl should be big enough.

Measure out the same weight of sugar as your peeled oranges, and add it to the bowl. If you don't have kitchen scales, then just use the same volume (i.e. 1 cup sugar for each cup of chopped oranges).

Microwave on high for 15-20minutes, uncovered, stirring every few minutes. Remember to stir and check on it, or it might boil over. Placing the bowl on a dinner plate will make it easier to put in/out of the microwave when it's hot.

Smear a little bit of marmalade onto a cold plate and check the consistency. If it's not thick enough yet, then microwave it a little longer.

While marmalade is in microwave, prepare some clean jars by pouring boiling water over them to sterilize them.

When marmalade is finished, ladle it into the jars, up to 1/2 inch from the top. Put lids on jars, and turn jars upside-down for 5 minutes to seal and sterilize the lids. Then turn upright and let cool. Makes 3 c.

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