The Marigold Potager – A Zone 3 Prairie Garden

Don’t you just love the zesty, zingy, yummy taste of marmalade? Me, too! I always thought it was super fussy and hard to make. If only I had known how very simple it is really is, I could have been making my own jammy goodness decades ago!

I’m not even kidding! This recipe took me about 30 minutes from start to finish! Is so easy that you can actually make it fresh for breakfast while the coffee is brewing. Whip up a jar or two to give as a hostess or birthday gift.

This is the perfect bit of Vitamin C for your fika (snack) on a wintery afternoon, with a nice cuppa tea.

Ingredients:

• 4 oranges and 300 grams of sugar.

How to make it…

1. Use a very sharp knife, cut the peels and white pith off of the orange. Open to the flesh.

2. Cut the oranges in half. Cut out each orange segment from between the membranes so that you get just the soft flesh and none of the chewy bits. The oranges I used had no seeds but if yours do, remove those, as well.

3. Remove the white pith from the peel. Thinly slice as much, or little, peel as you would like to add to your marmalade. I added about half an orange’s worth, wish I had added a bit more. If you leave some pith on, you will get chunkier bits.

4. Put the segments, peels, juices, and sugar into a pot.

5. Warm slowly to melt the sugar first and then bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Turn down the heat and let simmer for 15 minutes.

6. Put into a jam jar. Let cool. Store in fridge. Boom!

Will keep in the fridge for 4 weeks, if it lasts that long.

Tweaks that you can make…

1. Peel the oranges, chop into chunks. Toss everything into the pot, except the seeds. Leave the pith on the peel, slice thinly, add to the pot. This will give you a marmalade that is chunkier and a titch more ‘bitter’. Add more sugar to taste, to compensate for the extra pith.

2. Replace one of the oranges with a lemon for more zing.

I don’t remember ever having marmalade at home as a child, but fell in love with it when I was doing my nursing practicum in Sweden, about a million years ago. At coffee break time, someone would inevitably bring out a tray filled with mugs of coffee, a jar of marmalade, a block of ‘household cheese’ (a mild cheese, similar to Fruilano), and dry bread rolls called ‘skorpor’ (rusks).

We would lay the cheese on top of the ‘skorpa’, slather on some marmalade, and drink lots of strong coffee to get us through the day.

If you are not into dry bread (hah!), here are some of my other favourite ideas for your marmalade…

• Marmalade Ham, Cheese, and Arugula Sandwich Recipe | Epicurious
• Grilled Cheese with Orange Marmalade – Confessions of a Chocoholic
• Whole Wheat & Oatmeal Marmalade Bars • The View from Great Island
• Jam Drops | Classic Old Fashioned Recipe – Bake Play Smile

Super quick and easy to make, tastes delicious ~ Tanja