consider me your cautionary tale.
It all started with massive performance anxiety. I was feeling a bit intimidated. Before I’d even begun, I was feeling like whatever I was going to do wouldn’t to be good enough or interesting enough. Uggghhhhh!!!!! Where did the giddy go? These self-inflicted wounds are BOOOORRiNnnnggg.
I took the Just Go approach. Every single cookbook owned and borrowed was perused for tips, tricks and ideas. Why not just go trad with my ’53 edition of The Joy of Cooking? From there it was pretty easy to decide to do plain ol’ Blood Orange Marmalade. Simple. Simple. Wait. Irma and I are going to make this crazy complicated, aren’t we?
Follow directions? I pretty much followed Irma S. Rombaur’s recipe for Orange, Lemon And Grapefruit Marmalade up until the point it said cook the fruit mix in batches. Really, I did the whole soaking fruit thing. Overnight. For Real.
Remember up there I said up til the point… Well, I cooked it. And kept cooking it because there was so much of it and it wouldn’t spoon or saucer test well. At some point, I know it was hours later, I said to heck with it and thought it might set up if I went ahead and processed it.
I’m a bit of a Weck person. I’m a Weck person and this was my first time with the water bath. Oh, bubbles, how you scared me. I did lose a jar midway through. I was kinda wild to see pulp just appear in the water.
Instead of getting weepy, I took out the offending jar and stuck in a spoon and almost cried. It was good. Loose and syrupy, but good.
I finished processing the other jars. Let them cool. I just waited to see what the next day would bring. The next day brought just as much movement in the jar.
I looked around for ways to save my marmalade. There it was on p.85 of Anne V. Nelson’s The New Preserves. For every 2 cups of fruit goo add 1 tablespoon of commercial lemon juice.
I pulled the seal on all the jars. Measured and dumped back in the pot. Added the lemon juice. Cooked until the spoon test looked right. Processed and waited.
Oh, what a good morning can bring. Blood Orange Marmalade and plain yogurt. Bliss. That simple.
It was sweet and tart. Smooth, with hints of texture. The bits of rind really were a candied surprise. I enjoyed the Blood Orange Marmalade with yogurt a bit more than the pita. The fresh, cool tang of the yogurt lifted the marmalade and tempered the sweetness. Twas quite good.
So where’s the adapted recipe? I could just say since I didn’t do it right, why would you want it? Well, the truth is… I forgot to write it down. Next month, I promise?
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hey nikki,
i just love your tenacity! and what a great offering to the rest of us. on not giving up and on popping those tops and doing it again – with lemon juice.
…was a new learning for me. thanks! and it looks delicious!
oh, and that vintage book rocks, and so do your photos!
Oh, how I am lusting after your “loose” marmalade… mine is far too thick for my tastes. Certainly the next time that I make marmalade, I’ll probably under cook it so I’m glad I know this trick of adding lemon juice now!
oh, for the love of blood oranges. That looks simply divine! Nice work.
Nice post, nice pictures! I added you to my bookmarks so I can read more from you soon. So you are a Weck person? Glad to hear that. I’m from Germany, and Weck is German. I use Weck jars sometimes, too. Not for my citrus marmalade, though…
Thank you, thank you. I just opened the second jar and whipped up a quick biscuit bread. It’s cold and rainy here. So, I’m having a little comfort breakfast for dinner.
Tigress… ahhh, Tenacity… I don’t know where she came from as of late, but thankfully, she doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. I love that I’m learning a lot. If my loopy journey can be of some benefit, suh-weet!
Carter… I read somewhere that overcooking it breaks down the natural pectin. I think that it’s def all the water/juice that JoC calls for that will help you get loosey-goosey in the furture.
Julia… Thx Much. I’m a fool for blood orange anything.
Thx, AP269… I just love my Weck jars. Fab German design. I use them for all kinds of food storage. Thank you for bookmarking me. Hopefully, you’ll like what you read.
N♥
your pictures are beautiful. thanks for the post!
This marmalade looks great! I’ve had trouble with loose preserves before, but I usually just label them “dessert sauce” and serve them anyway. Sometimes preserves just take a while to gel, too… This summer I made some tomato jelly that was syrupy after canning and I was planning on reboiling it with more pectin/lemon juice. But I was lazy and didn’t, and after sitting undisturbed for about a month it gelled into the most wonderful wiggly jelly.
Great, now I have to go get an old copy of Joy of Cooking – you suck. 😉 This looks fabulous and I love your photos. Maybe I should start shooting more “in process” shots. What do you use for lighting?
I did a lemon marmalade out of a new dedicated Joy of Cooking Preserving book and it had the soak overnight and cook in two batches thing going on also. Only I did the two seperate batches right up until I was within 5 degrees of jelling.
It was a PITA when I did it, but now I am kinda glad I did.
And I cannot believe you use Weck and lost one. I love the look of Weck but I am too much of a cheapskate to buy the jars. If I had busted one I would have probably cried.
Oh wow! You had quite an adventure! I love how you adapted the recipes. I’ve never tasted (or seen for that matter) a blood orange, but you make them sound/look soooo good!
Aww, Thx Much, MJ. I have fun shooting them.
Thx, Libby. That’s great to know.
RobbingPeter… I get a good laugh every time I read your comment. Don’t spend more than a dollar on the book. I got it for free.
Thx for the compliment. I shoot au natural. I have a thing about flash that I’m learning to get over. Have fun shooting the process, but don’t let it bog you down.
You followed directions, little jealous. Just bought a bunch of Meyer lemons, more marm for me.
Oh, I would have cried if I broke my Weck. I meant that I lost the contents of the jar to a bad seal in the water bath. I’m really careful with them, but not precious. I use them all the time.
Hi Catalina, thank you! You must must must get some blood oranges in your life. I’d never heard of them until maybe seven years ago. I got some in my weekly produce delivery when I lived in NYC from a company called Urban Organic. Addicted ever since.
N♥
Lovely photos! Lovely storytelling!
Thx so much!
n♥