Blood Orange Port Marmalade

Oh, this recipe has stolen my heart. I eat it with cheese, on toast, as a glaze on chicken and roast vegetables. I have mixed it in cocktails and yes, eaten it out of the jar with a spoon. I am warning you. It is amazing.

Rich red from the flesh of blood oranges, finely textured shreds of peel from the citrus, subtly sweet and rich from the addition of port.

It is everything a marmalade should be, complex and powerful and beautiful, in the jar, on the plate, in the mouth. Enjoy.

This recipe is adapted from one we found in one of our old canning standbys, The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving by Ellie Top and Margaret Howard.

I’ve scaled up the recipe to accommodate a larger batch, because the original only made one pint. And that was clearly not enough.

While it is often inadvisable to double recipes for jam, because the larger quantity results in longer cooking times and difficulty getting the proper pectin set, the large quantities of peel in this recipe contain plenty of pectin to accommodate a slightly increased cooking time.

Because the peels of conventionally grown citrus fruits are often exposed to pesticides, we recommend using only organic produce in this recipe, particularly.

Makes about 3 pints.

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DIRECTIONS

1. PREPARE YOUR EQUIPMENT

Prepare the jars and water bath canner.

2. PREPARE YOUR INGREDIENTS

Wash the oranges well, being sure to remove any wax, if present.

Remove the thin outer rind from the oranges, leaving behind as much white pith as possible. The citrus zester makes this easy, and creates a nice, even texture, but a sharp paring knife works as well. If using a knife, remove the peel in large pieces, and slice into strips.

Place the peels into a jam pot or other large stock pot. Slice the remaining white pith off of the blood orange fruits and discard. Coarsely chop the citrus, discarding any seeds, and add it to the pot.

Zest or slice the peel of the lemons, discarding the white pith. Coarsely chop the flesh. Add the fruit and peel to the pot, taking care to remove any seeds.

3. BRING POT TO BOIL

Add the water and wine to the pot, and bring to a boil over high heat.

Reduce heat and boil gently for 30 minutes.

4. ADD SUGAR, COOK UNTIL DESIRED SET

Add the sugar; bring to a boil and boil rapidly, uncovered, stirring frequently. Boil the marmalade until the mixture will form a gel, usually from 20-30 minutes. Longer cooking times will result in a stiffer marmalade.

5. PACK YOUR JARS & PROCESS

Ladle into hot, clean jars with 1/4- 1/2-inch headspace, and process in a boiling water-bath canner for 10 minutes.

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