DOUBLE BLOOD ORANGE MARMALADE

The Jam: To make this one-of-a-kind jam we used two different varieties of blood orange: one sour, one sweet. This required long conversations at the farmer’s market stall with the sellers and lots of taste tests, but the product was one of the absolute triumphs of Fruitslinger. Look for a combination of dark, sweet blood oranges which will lend smoothness and color and light-colored, tangy blood oranges which can brighten up the flavor. Here we took down the bitterness while keeping the citrus peel that makes marmalade what it is by peeling the oranges, cutting up the peels, and blanching them three times. We go to great lengths for our jams, lemme tell ya.

Makes about 10 4oz or 5 8oz jars

Ingredients:

  • 3 lbs mixed blood oranges, juiced (about 5 cups of juice) plus peels (use a vegetable peeler to remove top layer of peel, then slice into thin strips, as seen above)

  • 3 TBSP lemon juice

  • 6 tsp calcium water (comes with Pectin)

  • 3 cups sugar

  • 3 tsp pectin (Pomona’s Universal Pectin is best)

Making the Jam:

  • Place several spoons in the freezer ahead of time for testing jam consistency once hot. Prepare ingredients as listed above and set aside. Combine sugar and pectin, mixing with a fork or whisk to ensure pectin is completely mixed in with the sugar to avoid clumping.

  • Fill a pot with enough water to cover thinly sliced blood orange peels and bring to a boil. Once at a boil, take the pot off the heat and pour over a strainer to strain the peels, discarding the water. Refill and blanch twice more in this same manner.

  • Bring blood orange juice, blanched peels, lemon juice, and calcium water to a boil. If at any point it starts to foam, skim foam off and discard it.

  • Add sugar-pectin mixture slowly. Boil again for at least 1 minute. Drop about a 1/2 tsp of jam onto the frozen spoon to check if it is at desired consistency. If jam is still too runny, make more sugar-pectin mixture (1/2 tsp pectin in 1/4 cup of sugar) and add, boiling for another minute before testing again.

A Word on Canning: In order to safely keep this jam at room temperature, is necessary to follow proper canning protocol, including completely sterilizing the jars and lids, adding in contents when they are boiling hot, and reboiling the filled jars, keeping only those lids which have properly sealed. If you have not canned food before, please refer to further resources on proper technique! You can also make small batches of this jam, and store in the fridge for a few weeks, avoiding canning entirely.

If you decide to can this jam, fill still-hot freshly sanitized jars with boiling jam, wipe lip of jar with a damp cloth, secure lid, tighten rings finger-tight, and process in boiling water for 6 minutes. Properly canned jars whose lids compress on their own while cooling can be stored in a cool room for up to 1 year.