Orange Marmalade

Putting food up for a later enjoyment in winter seems such a reasonable thing to do. And even now that we can actually buy whatever we want all year round and there is little need to put food up, preserving some of the seasonal produce is very satisfying. But I find that I got these things backwards, usually. I am currently thinking about investing in enough large jars to can tomatoes at the end of summer, even though I'd have to buy the tomatoes since I don't have the space to grow them.
And if I do can something, I usually only make a glass or two that I eat long before winter.
This year I bought organic oranges for my vin d'orange and after draining the vin off, I was left with wine/vodka soaked orange halves that I really did not want to just throw away. Canning is, after all, a sort of resourcefulness. As it turns out, the remnants of making vin d'orange make a really lovely orange marmalade, satisfying both my cravings for something sweet on my toast and my need to not throw that much food away.




Orange Marmalade
Adapted from Put 'em Up, by Sherri Brooks Vinton

If you want to make this without making the vin d'orange, start with fresh oranges, slice them as in the recipe pour 3 cups water over the cut oranges/lemon, cover with a tea towel and set aside over night. 


8 oranges, 1 lemon, leftover from the vin d'orange
sugar

After draining the vin d'orange off, slice the orange and lemon slices very thinly, and place them in a large saucepan. Cut larger slices into halves or thirds. Add about a cup of water to the pan. Once all the wedges are sliced, bring the mixture in the pan to a boil and simmer for about 30 minutes, until the rinds are tender. Cool, cover and set aside over night.
On the next day, measure the cooled mixture and add 50g sugar per 100g orange mixture. Put the saucepan back on the burner and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Simmer for about 30 minutes, until the marmalade gels  (to test this, drop a little marmalade on a small plate, let it cool down and check how firm the marmalade is.) Add a teaspoon or two of citric acid, if you have some on hand and want to balance out the sweetness of the marmalade.
Let cool down for 5 minutes, skim foam off and ladle into jars.
To store the marmalade for up to a year, sterilize the jars by boiling a pot of water, add the jars one after the other, boil for a minute or so, remove them from the pot and set them with the opening down on a clean dish towel. Boil the lids in the end. Fill the jars when the marmalade is still hot, put on the lid and set aside to cool down. The jars will be safe to store at room temperature if the lid of the jars are sealed tight and can not be pushed down in the middle.
Store any jars that are not filled completely or sealed correctly in the fridge and consume within a few weeks.