Blood Orange Vanilla Marmalade
Marmalades and fruit jams of all kinds play a huge part in French gastronomy. Of course, they’re ubiquitous on the breakfast table, enjoyed with the staple bread and butter. But they’re also deeply anchored in a “no-waste” French philosophy. Making jams, marmalades and preserves has always been a privileged tradition in France for home-cooks to ensure no seasonal fruits went to waste, and that they could be enjoyed all year round. So with Spring just around the corner, I wanted to bid a proper farewell to Winter by jarring (literally)…
- Prep time
- 20 min
- Cook time
- 1 hr
- Yield
- 2 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 5 medium size blood oranges (ideally, organic)¾ cup (150g) sugar
- ¾ cup (150g) cane sugar
- Or 1 ½ cup (300g) white sugar
- 450ml water
- ½ Vanilla bean, halved and scraped
- ½ lemon, juiced
Instructions
- 1
Make sure you read the cooking notes above before you start.
- 2
Scrub and wash the blood oranges clean. Cut off both ends of the oranges (discard of ends) so oranges can sit flat on a cutting board. With a small sharp knife, cut off the peel and pith (the white membrane) working your way from top to bottom, to expose the flesh of the oranges (keep the peels).
- 3
Clean any remaining pith or membrane from the orange flesh if needed. Cut the oranges into quarters, remove any seeds, cut off the inside white membrane and slice the quarters crosswise into small triangles. Trim off excess pith from the peels (as much as you can), and slice them finely into very thin strips. Combined (orange flesh and peels) should weigh about 450g (1lb).
- 4
Place a small plate in your freezer (we will use it later to test the marmalade consistency).
- 5
In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the orange flesh and peels, sugar, water, the scraping from ½ vanilla bean (and vanilla bean shell) and the juice from ½ lemon.
- 6
Stir and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat to low, and simmer for 1 hour and 30 minutes, until a candy thermometer reads 220F (106C).
- 7
If you do not have a candy thermometer: take the plate out of the freezer and drop a little spoonful of marmalade on it. Wait 1 minute and check the consistency: it should have thickened significantly. If it still looks too liquidy, keep the mixture at a simmer and try again later.
- 8
Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature before pouring into jars or airtight containers. The marmalade can keep for up to 14 days in the fridge in non-sterilized containers or jars and up to 3 months in sterilized jars.