MARMALADE

Every second Tuesday, I join a group of wonderful men and women and we sit and seriously critique the latest chapters that we have written. All under the gentle watching eye and prowess of David our mentor.

Last summer I dropped in to speak to David about something and before I left he handed me a jar of homemade marmalade.

Folks...in my life I have never tasted anything that good.

Of course, I asked how to make it and he told me that every January/February, down the street in the shuk there are bitter orange trees. So bitter, in fact, that you can't eat them. But they make the best gosh darn marmalade in the universe.

So, I waited and waited and last Tuesday, David handed me a bag of the freshly picked oranges. See, they were so high up on the trees that there was no way that I could have picked them. He, on the other hand, has an invention he cooked up that cuts them down. Yahooooo.

Yesterday I made marmalade. Twenty jars of marmalade. I made the best marmalade in the universe!

Now, since you don't have these bitter oranges, or maybe you do, you can make this out of any citrus fruit...a combination of oranges and lemons works too. And any condiment you add makes a new flavour.

Marmalade:
Cover the bottom of each pot with whole fruit. (I had 16 oranges in 2 pots)
Cover the fruit with water and bring to a boil.
Let boil until the fruit implodes or gets soft or cracked.
Remove the fruit.
Weigh the liquid.
Finally slice the fruit skins into slivers...tiny pieces.
Remove the pits from the fruit and throw them away.
Weigh the fruit skins.
Add the weight of the fruit and the juice (liquid) together and match with an equal amount of sugar. (I had 2,000 grams of liquid and 2,220 grams of fruit. I used 4 kilo of sugar)
Boil the liquid and sugar until sugar dissolves.
Add the fruit.
Bring to a boil and keep stirring. Takes about 30-40 minutes, until the liquid is a golden brown and foamy.

This recipe makes 4.6-5 kilo of jam.

Took all morning but boy oh boy was it worth it.

Wishing you a sweet shabbat shalom.

Have a great day...stay safe...and thanks for dropping in.
ps. wanna come to my place for peanut butter and jam sandwiches? Trust me, this recipe is worth the effort.