A Recipe for Orange Marmalade That Doesn't Use Pectin

Our 4-H club has one fundraiser:  selling fruit.  Two weeks ago the fruit came in and I spent a few hours loading boxes into my car and delivering them.  Of course we ordered a box and the kids have been devouring grapefruit, oranges, apples and pears.  A friend of mine, whose child is also in 4-H, uses a few of her oranges to make orange marmalade.  She says this recipe for orange chicken is wonderful.  I was intrigued and looked on line at various recipes for marmalade, but they all called for pectin.  Well, I have pectin on hand, but I buy it in bulk and since I just purchased a new package I didn't feel like opening it just to make one batch of orange marmalade.  Then I reached for my grandmother's Fannie Merritt Farmer: Boston Cooking School Cook Book.  Why I didn't do this from the beginning is beyond me?  I go to this book for so many recipes.  It was published in 1922 and it has all those good old recipes your grandmother or great-grandmother made that have almost been forgotten.  But this recipe isn't forgotten anymore as you too will now be able to make orange marmalade without pectin.

First wash your oranges.  I use a bit of vinegar in water and let them soak for a few minutes.  Then weigh them and use 3/4 the weight in sugar.  My 4 oranges weighed 28 oz. and so I used 21 oz of sugar.

Now peel your oranges and place the peelings in a pot with enough water to cover them.  Bring to a boil and simmer until the peels are soft.

While your orange peels are simmering, take the orange wedges and remove the membrane.  This is the tedious part of the whole project.  Use a sharp knife and insert it into the orange wedge and slice the membrane and then pull it off.  I also cut the back side of the orange wedge to remove the last bit of white.  All you want is the soft flesh of the orange.

Once done cutting off the membrane your orange peels should be nice and soft.  Drain them and let cool.  Place the oranges without the membrane into a pot (I used the same one I simmered the peels in) and bring to a boil.  Slowly add the sugar you weighed and stir.  Bring back to a boil and reduce the heat so it is simmering.  Let simmer one hour and stir periodically   

While the oranges are simmering use a spoon to remove the white inside of the orange and discard.

What you will keep is the thin outside rind.

Cut the rind with a scissors into thin strips.

Don't forget to stir your oranges now and then.  This is what they look like after an hour of simmering.

Now add the sliced orange peels and continue simmering for another hour.  This seems like a long time, but you can do many things while the oranges and peels simmer away.  You could spring clean your kitchen.  Or read a good book.

By the end your marmalade will be a dark orange and is quite thick and sticky.  It smells amazing - I wish Google's Nose actually worked so you could take a whiff!  But the flavor is almost beyond description - like orange candy.  So yummy.

Pour into cleaned and sterilized jars and process in a hot water bath for 10 min.  Four large oranges makes three jelly jars of marmalade.

This may be a bit of work, but the end result is definitely worth it.  I can't wait to cook with it or even eat it on some toast.  My oldest made a batch to enter into the fair.  I will let you know in a few months how it was judged.

Aren't these pretty?