Blood Orange Marmalade

This is a lovely, fragrant marmalade. The fruit gives a wonderful rich pink/ red colour to the finished product.

It’s only possible to make when blood oranges are in season, from about September to December in Australia. Blood oranges, like any citrus, lose their pectin when old.

I made the mistake last year of buying several kilos of the fruit right at the end of the season. Having chopped it all up, made my marmalade, I was horrified to find that none of the jars had set! However, I put the non-marmalade to use. Great mixed into a butter cake, giving it a really tangy flavour.

Ingredients

2-3  blood oranges
Water to cover fruit
Sugar

Method

Cut the fruit in half. Chop into segments, peel and pith included. Remove as many pips as you can. You want strips of citrus so that your marmalade is chunky. Put the fruit into your saucepan.

I found some handy tips about preparing the fruit from the following blog post:

http://foodinjars.com/2012/01/small-batch-blood-orange-marmalade/

Cover generously with water, making sure you have enough in the pan so that the fruit does not boil dry. Bring to the boil and simmer until the fruit is tender. This should take from between 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Measure the pulp and remaining liquid. Return to the pan adding 1.5 cups of sugar for every 1cup of pulp. Return to the boil, making sure the sugar is dissolved. Cook until setting point is reached  – 20 to 30 minutes. Ladle carefully into sterilised jars and leave to cool.