Who doesn’t love marmalade, right? Do you know what makes marmalade even better? Using fancy ingredients, like lemons or, in this case blood oranges. Of course, they’re not very “bloody”. I made this a month ago or so and we don’t get the most amazing produce at times up here in the colder months, so sadly these are blood oranges in name alone, but think how incredible the colour could have been, had the flesh been that gorgeous, rich sanguine colour.
As you can see, although some of them were starting to turn a bit, the blood oranges never really fulfilled their full potential…
They tasted great though, and so did the blood orange marmalade, and that, my friends, is what really matters.
It had been so long since I had some good marmalade, and I’ve posted a couple of marmalades before – lemon, and quick orange – so I figured it was time I posted a “slow” orange marmalade. I think this particular recipe might not be for everyone. I absolutely love my marmalade dark, bitter, and packed with chunky bits of peel. Others prefer their marmalade pale and “bit-free”. My mother makes a good dark marmalade but since she’s almost a thousand kilometres away the possibility of “popping over and stealing a jar” is non-existent.
I adore canning and preserving things. I’ve never really tried pickling things (aside from eggs and beetroot), but there really is something incredibly comforting and satisfying about having a supply of jams, chutneys, and marmalades stashed away in your pantry. The best thing is, as long as they’re canned properly, they can only improve with time. I left a jar of chutney I’d made for a year once and then cracked it open and the flavours were incredible. Deep and complex; the chutney had already been nice to begin with, but this was some next level stuff!
Blood Orange Marmalade
So what does that tell you? Making jams and laying them up for a few months is a darn good idea. Not only do they make great eating, but if you get into a jam (excuse the pun!) and don’t have any host or hostess gift to give when visiting someone, then you can break out a gorgeous jar of homemade “aged” jam or marmalade.
Enjoy the recipe and the video folks, and have a nice day!
Blood Orange Marmalade
Ingredients
- 1.6 kg Blood Oranges
- 1 kg of jam-making Sugar
- 4 litres of Water
You'll also needAbout 8 preserving jars
Instructions
- Start off by washing the oranges. Rubbing them well between your hands under running water is a good way of doing this. Trim off the ends and then place into a large pan with the water. Cover and bring to the boil before lowering the heat and simmering for about 1.5 hours.
- Remove from the heat and set the oranges aside to cool in a dish. Do not throw away the water in the pan.
- Place a small dish into your freezer for testing the marmalade later and once the oranges have cooled, cut them in half and juice them. Add the juice to the pan with the water and then slice the orange peels very finely and add to the pan as well.
- Add the sugar and, stirring well until dissolved, bring the mixture to the boil. Once the marmalade is boiling, reduce the heat a tiny bit so that the marmalade is still boiling, but just not quite so fiercely.
- Continue to stir the marmalade every couple of minutes to prevent burning. You will need to boil the marmalade for around 1 hour or so, depending on how dark you like it.
- When you think it's ready, preheat your oven to 150 degrees Celsius and wash your Preserving Jars and the lids thoroughly. Place into the preheated oven for about 15 minutes or so and then test some marmalade by dropping it onto the cold plate from the freezer. If it forms a skin after 30 seconds it's ready to go.
- Spoon the marmalade into the still quite hot preserving jars, filling right up to about 1cm away from the top, and seal immediately.
As you know from your previous marmalade post, I adore marmalade but to date, I haven’t made it as yet. And, like you, I do prefer mine to have bits as well! I like that marmalade is not as sweet as other preserves. Blood oranges are so expensive here that I only get them once in a while and have never thought to make them into a marmalade.
I like the nutritional facts you have Charles, what is the serving size? In Canada, the government is starting to regulate serving sizes because some companies were posting ridiculous serving sizes for a package to keep the perceived calorie count down (such as 1/2 of a can of pop!). It will be a rather lengthy process since the only watch dogs seem to be consumers or competitors.
Thanks Eva! The nutritional info is actually automatically calculated based on the ingredients I enter and then divided by the yield or number or servings I enter (in this case 6), so assuming you made 6 jars, it should work out to 770 calories a jar… ish. It doesn’t work out so well for some things because you have no possibility within the recipe plugin to tweak serving sizes (like, I should like to specify that a serving size might be a tablespoon for example, and 1 jar contains, say, 40 tablespoons or something, I don’t know). It also doesn’t work well when you’re writing a recipe which calls for oil for deep-frying. One potato chip ends up being 500 calories or something outrageous, but in general, for other recipes, such as cakes it works very well!
Your marmalade looks fabulous! I almost never eat jams and such but I love a bit of orange marmalade from time to time. It’s much more sophisticated than a simple jam. I made some marmalades in recent years and once prepared some jars with bitter oranges (Seville orange)… it was really too much, but an interesting experiment!
It’s interesting you say that. I’d always believed that seville oranges were *the* orange to use for serious marmalades. Many of the best marmalades I know from England (have you tried a brand called “Frank Cooper”?) are, I believe, made with seville oranges, but they’re not common, so sadly I never had a chance to give them a try myself in my conserving experiments.
I don’t know, maybe I did something wrong… it was really violent, but not bad. (I have never tasted this brand.)
I love orange marmalade. I hope I can find the blood oranges. I enjoyed the video also, nicely done. Hey, did you make that croissant too? You’re amazing!
Ha, I wish I’d made that croissant! Though, they’re actually on my ever-increasing list of things I should make, so one day I hope I’ll be able to post about them!
Charles, we’re on the same wavelength! I was going to post my latest marmalade today, but it got postponed to next Thursday. Be sure to look for it. Your mamalade looks lovely, and I often enjoy a dark marmalade. In fact, sometimes I’ll put half a batch into jars at the “ideal” stage and further cook the other half to have a few jars of special dark.
Nice, I’ll be sure to check it out Jean!
I must say – the dark stage *is* the ideal stage for me… don’t want any of that pale stuff! 😀
Oh your homemade marmalade would go well with my homemade croissants! 🙂
Homemade croissants you say? Did you post them…? I’ll have to come and check them out!
That is one gorgeous marmalade. If I ate marmalade more than once or twice a year, I’d consider making a batch but like jams and curds, it’s practical. I wish you could tell from the outside if the pulp would be red/purple cause I want to make a batch of really ‘red’ blood orange curd one day.
Oh, I think you can. The “bloodiness” is usually indicated on the skin, so basically, buy oranges which are as dark and mottled as possible and you’re good to go. If they look mostly like regular oranges then skip them.
… of course instead of “it’s practical” I meant to write “it’s NOT practical” to make it myself. I’ll take a close look the next time blood oranges are advertised at the local grocery store and only buy the really dark skinned ones. 🙂
Does the same advice work for red grapefruit, I wonder?
No, I don’t think so – I think it’s just because of the way blood oranges “work”. Their flesh pigment seeps through to the skin in big blotches, like a giant bruise!
What a coincidence. I blogged about having a jar of blood orange marmalade yesterday! I didn’t make mine though! Citrus will soon be available in our stores and I’m looking forward to making my own marmalade. Thanks for this inspiration! I love my marmalade dark, bitter and full of peel as well! xx
My friend always used to buy this marmalade with no bits and it was all pale. Talk about rubbish… it was like orange jelly.
Mmmm. This looks fabulous and I can almost taste it spread on a croissant. Great idea to use blood oranges. Funny, I don’t think I’ve ever had one. I’m going to have to fix that. They do have a fabulous color. Interesting that they didn’t color properly with the colder weather. Like you said though, they still tasted good and really that’s all that matters. Spring/summer will come soon. It has to afterall. 🙂
There’s a company in France called “Andros” which specialises in fruit products. They make really nice juice, including blood orange juice. Damn that stuff is good. Could totally guzzle it all the time!
I like everything about your post, Charles. Dark orange marmalade with lots of peel is my absolute favorite. When I travel in Europe, I treat myself to a croissant and orange marmalade for breakfast each day if I see it on a buffet. If there is no orange marmalade then I skip the croissant.
Thanks Karen! Not sure if I’d ever skip the croissant for lack of marmalade – you could always put some nice strawberry jam on it 😀
I didn’t know marmalade kept that long, Charles. I always make very small quantities so I can use it up quickly. I’m going to have to change my tune because this looks really good.
Oh definitely – as long as it’s canned properly then it’ll last ages if kept in a cool, dark place!
Loved this video! I love a paler marmalade, but with tons of rind like you have – i have never made my own so I loved seeing your process!
Thanks Shashi – you should try making it! Makes the house smell really good 😉
Oh I absolutely adore a good citrus marmalade and I’m sure this is the number one best! Blood oranges? Those are definitely hard to beat. I’d love some of this on the bread I made today.
Sounds like a great combination MJ! I hope you’re doing well!
I used to love the Robertson’s thin peel lemon marmalade. I’ve never tried making marmalade though I do love it. I make other jams but I fear I may not make it well so just try and buy any British marmalade I can. I am one who prefers the thin peel and not so bitter, but pleasantly bitter. This looks great, I’d just do my peels thinner and find blood oranges that look like blood oranges 🙂 I got lucky last season, mine were beautiful!
Oh, you should make it, it’s so much fun! I love making canned/jarred stuff… reminds me, I should make some chutney sometime too. It’s been ages since I did some of that. I remember that picture you posted of the blood orange tart a while back… those were fantastic!
I love the look of the marmalade. Never tried my hand at it…looks so refreshing. Love the photographs.
Thanks Minnie – would recommend making it, it’s fun to do!
Hmmm…you make me imagine the smell of freshly baked bread and heaping a spoonful of your home-made marmalade. Thanks for the recipe and tips!
Julie
Gourmet Getaways
Thanks Julie – hope you have a chance to give it a try!