This mandarin orange marmalade is made from leftover oranges after our overseas guests left for their homes. So as not to waste these oranges, I adapted the recipe from Cheah’s blog, No-Frills Recipes with a little adjustment. I must say, this is a time consuming job that took me about two hours (because I wanted to use up all the oranges) peeling, cutting, and removing the membranes from the oranges – and it’s made up only five bottles! The mandarin orange marmalade still tastes a little bit bitter as the bitterness comes from the orange peel. Anyway, the feedback that I received was not bad indeed.
Wash and scrub the oranges well. Peel the oranges and remove piths, carefully cut the peels of 2 oranges into thin strips with a sharp knife. Soak peels with a pinch of salt in hot water for 10 minutes and drain well.
Cut the oranges segments in half, crosswise , break out the segments and remove the seeds with a skewer. Wrap the seeds in a muslin cloth. (I used tea bag).
Put the orange segments, water, lemon juice, sugar, peels and the bag of seeds into a large pot.
Once boiling, reduce heat to medium low and let it bubble for about an hour (mine cooked for 90 minutes), uncovered, stirring occasionally until liquid reduced to half and reached gel point.
Ladle the hot jam into the sterilized jars, leaving about ½ inch gap from the top and twist while the jam is still hot. Invert the bottles to cool before placing them in the refrigerator.
Notes
Jell point testing - Chill a small plate in a freezer for at least 1 hour. Place a dollop of jam onto the plate and run a clean finger down the middle of the small puddle of jam. When the jam reaches the run consistency, the two separated pools should remain parted.
You have to freeze the peels overnight, or boil them three times in sugar water, discarding the liquid each time. That will get rid of the bitterness or astringency.
You have to freeze the peels overnight, or boil them three times in sugar water, discarding the liquid each time. That will get rid of the bitterness or astringency.
Thank you for the suggestion.