Orange Marmalade 


Well I'm finally back, now that exams are done and I am home for the summer. I hope to keep the entries rolling out at least once a week.

This week we are dealing with oranges and orange marmalade to be exact. Here we are at another cross roads in culinary classification, what constitutes a jam or a jelly or marmalade? Here is the quick version: jam has both fruit pieces and fruit juice, jelly is translucent and made from only sweetened fruit juice and as for marmalade its definition is a little fuzzy. Marmalade usually contains the peel of the fruit, like an orange, but marmalades can also be made from things like onions which obviously do not have a peel like an orange. Moreover, in North America we like our marmalades sweet while across the pond in the UK they prefer a more bitter taste. All of the above have two things in common, they fall into the fruit preserves category along with many other spreads (compotes, chutneys, fruit curds, etc.) and they are jelled with pectin. Pectin is a substance that is naturally occurring to varying degrees in fruits and it is activated by sugars and acids. Pectin is a big topic so I will give it its due in another blog.

Boiling Oranges

Orange marmalade is typically associated with England but it was actually a Scottish invention. Marmalade like substances, called Quince jelly, first arrived in England as far back as 1495 onboard Portuguese ships. About 300 years later a Scotsmen by the name of James Keeler took his Spanish oranges to market but could not sell any of them because they were so bitter. Keeler's wife did not want to waste the oranges so she cooked them in sugar and water and the rest is history.



As for my marmalade, I was pleasantly surprised by it. I am not the biggest fan or oranges so I was not really looking much forward to this recipe. It turned out to my liking though and is great on bread and crackers. It is really simple recipe, which you can find below, hasn't changed much from Mrs. Keeler's method. Slice up some oranges boil them and add sugar, instant (about an hour total cooking time) breakfast sensation. I might say to hold back a little of the sugar mine was a little sweet, but don't hold back to much or the pectin won't be able to do its job. I only made half the recipe because I don't have the 8 quart pot the recipe called for but it all turned out okay. Since I was not making an industrial size quantity I also skipped the preserving part, if you do the same make sure the go in the fridge.

This recipe is from Good Eats 3: The Later Years Orange Marmalade