Lazy Taz's orange marmalade

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Well...I LOVE marmalade and not a day goes by that I don't eat a p-nut butter and marmalade sandwich. Usually for breakfast. But making marmalade is a pain in the butt and time consuming. So I have developed the easy way. The givens are: 1. You have one of those steamers where the fruit goes in the top and the juice comes out the bottom. 2. A washing machine 3. Oranges

I buy juice oranges this time of year from a grower down the road. His #1 oranges, those that are large and not a blemish on them,..go to the packing house where they do those gift boxes that cost an arm and a leg. His #2 go to the local packing house that sell both wholesale and retail. #3 goes to the juice makers and #4 is what I buy for $2/bushel. These oranges are yukky looking as they have a fungus that grows on the skin. It looks like soot. This stuff scrubs off with elbow grease and a stiff brush. I have little elbow grease to spare on smutty oranges. Take any jelly recipe or marmalade recipe and then:

Toss the dirty oranges into the washing machine with laundry soap and hot water and a couple of tennis balls or bath towels.

Cut the oranges in half and toss into steamer. Steam until you have gotten all the juice.

This also cooks the peeling. Pick out the nicest looking peelings and peel out the white inner lining and discard that. Slice the peelings as thin as you can. Toss into the big kettle of juice and follow any jelly recipe.

You do not need to use pectin if you have cooked it until the jelly slakes off the spoon. Pour into jars and seal. It will take a week or better to set up good so put the jars in a place where they do not need to be moved. At our house I don't get fancy. I pour it into widemouth pt jars. If your lids are hot they will seal and no canning is involved.

Enjoy....Taz

-- Taz (Tassi123@aol.com), February 20, 2000

Answers

Grandma used to make the most wonderful candy from orange peels, lemmon peels, and lime peels. She would bring them to a boil, change the water, do it a few more times, and them boil them in sugar water, roll them in sugar, and lay them out to dry. Taz talking about all those oranges and peels, brought back some memories.

-- suzy (suzy@nowhere.com), February 20, 2000.

Suzy....I remember those too. Hmnnnnnn! Think I will cut up somemore rinds and try that while I am making the marmalade. I used to love those things. Thanks for the tip/memory Taz

-- Taz (Tassi123@aol.com), February 21, 2000.

Hi Taz,

I don't know anything about orange smut - northern winters don't agree with orange trees. However, I gather that corn smut is not only edible but very good (presuming you like fungi) Either sautee as you would other mushrooms or use in cooking (smut and cheese omlette anyone?).

So this northerner is curious: is orange smut a possibly cookable fungus or is it more like a surface mold that looks gross and if left to grow would ruin the fruit and itself not be usable?

jh

-- john hebert (jt_hebert@hotmail.com), February 21, 2000.


John..I am familiar with corn smut as I helped a gal in NY write an USDA grant on the stuff in about 1989-90. No, these organges just look dirty. They look the same as the oranges looked when me and my brother had to run the smudge pots in the orange groves back in the early 50s. They look like they have been rolled in soot. There is no texture to this stuff. Taz

-- Taz (Tassi123@aol.com), February 22, 2000.

Taz, I think its something called sooty mould.Washing it off should do.Its left behind after aphids have been to work.A lazy way of chopping up peel after you have depithed it is to feed it through a meat grinder.Can come out a bit chunky but then you just called it Dundee Marmalade & put your nose in the air!

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), February 23, 2000.


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