Easy Orange Marmalade Recipe

This easy orange marmalade recipe will make about 6 pints and these marmalades are canned with the hot water bath method.

Ingredients

4 oranges
2 lemons
2 1/2 cups water
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
6 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 pkg(57 g)pectin

Tools - 6 x 250mL mason jars

(Makes about 6 pints)

Directions

HOW TO STERILIZE JARS

Wash you canner with soap and hot water and rinse well.

Fill about half full with fresh clean hot tap water and put onto the stove-top.

Choose good quality canning jars and inspect them for cracks.

Always wash the jars, lids, and bands thoroughly in hot soapy water. Rinse well.

*TIP: Using a canner is convenient because you will need it anyways and once you have heated up the water, to sterilize the jars, you can also use that same water when it comes time to process.

Place the clean jars, right side up, into the canner placing each into a spot on the canning rack.

Set the canning rack to the down position. The jars will want to float and bob until they are filled with water so it’s a good idea to have a jar with water in it to pour a little into each jar to weight them down.

The jars need to be completely filled with water plus there should be one inch of water above the jars.

Bring the water to a boil and boil for 15 minutes.

Turn off the heat.

Once the water is no long boiling use tongs to drop in the lids and seals. This will also serve to sterilize the tongs.

Leave the jars, rings and lids for a minimum of 10 minutes up to one hour but no longer.

If you go longer than one hour you will need to sterilize again.

Marmalade Prep:

With a vegetable scrubber, scrubs the peels of the oranges and lemons.

Remove peel with a sharp knife in large sections.

Scrape away most of the white bitter part of the peel and discard.

Thinly slice the peel and combine with water and baking soda in a stainless steel saucepan.

Bring mixture to a boil and boil gently, for 20 minutes.

While it is boiling, use a sharp knife and hold fruit over a bowl, to peel way the outer membrane (it is very thin layer that holds all the juice in). We want to keep all the juices and discard the membrane and seeds.

Combine boiled peel and pulp/juice mixture; cover and boil gently 10 minutes; set aside.

Measure 4 cups of this mixture into a large, deep stainless steel saucepan.

Whisk in pectin until dissolved.

Stirring often and bring mixture to a boil over high heat. Add sugar.

Stirring constantly and return mixture to a full rolling boil for 1 minute.

Remove from heat and use a spoon to remove any foam that has appeared.

Quickly use a ladle to transfer marmalade into a hot jar to within 1/4 inch of top of jar leaving headspace.

Using a metal spoon, and dip it in to remove air bubbles and add more marmalade if needed so you have 1/4 inch from the top.

Wipe jar rim removing any food residue.

Place a hot lid on clean jar rim. Screw band down until resistance is met, and tighten, but do not wrench on it.

Place the filled jar in a rack in canner.

Fill the rest of the jars, and keep putting them into the canner.

When canner is filled, ensure that all jars are covered by at least one inch of water. Cover canner and bring water to full rolling boil before starting to count processing time of 10 minutes.

Remove the lid from the canner, wait 5 minutes, then remove jars without tilting and place them upright on a clean dish cloth where they will not be disturbed.

Let them cool for 24 hours, and do not re-tighten the lids.

Sometimes they seal very quickly and sometimes they take several hours before you hear the distinctive "CLICK" as the lid seals shut.

The way to test if a jar is sealed is to press down in the center of the lid. If it is indented down and makes no noise it is sealed.

If it makes a clicking sound when you press down on it, it has not sealed.

If a jar does not seal, keep that jar in the refrigerator and use first within a couple weeks.

Store you beautiful marmalade in a cool dark spot.

Adapted from Bernardin recipe.