mandarin orange marmalade

The Jam: Traditional marmalade made with sweet mandarin oranges.  A simple recipe that captures the light, fresh taste of mandarin oranges with a sharp and tangy rind underneath. For those who like a little rind in their marmalade (and that’s not everyone!) - this is the recipe you’re looking for.

Note: This recipe was the hardest to dig up, so the ingredient list below is cobbled together from what information we *could* find - which means it’s less well-tested than the other recipes. Jammer beware.

Makes about 8 4oz jars or 4 8oz jars

Ingredients:

  • 2 pounds mandarin oranges (rinsed, sliced thin, and quartered with rind still on… remove any seeds)

  • 3 tsp calcium water (comes with Pectin)

  • 2 TBSP lemon juice

  • 1 TBSP lime juice

  • 3 cups sugar

  • 2 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.

  • Bring orange slices, lemon juice, lime juice, and calcium water to a boil until rinds begin to soften and mixture becomes aromatic. If it starts to foam, skim the foam and discard.

  • 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.