Selfless Spread

I love making chocolate chip cookies. I love eating chocolate chip cookies. My husband knows this, so it's hard to win good wifey points by saying, "Look, honey, I made you cookies!" Especially when I've eaten five of them before he sees them. He might suspect that it was my greedy tummy more than my selfless love which prompted the cookie baking.

There are some things which I make just for him, though, that he knows without a doubt that it's an act of love for me to make. Marmalade is one of those. I think it's nasty. I'd rather have my toast plain than have to eat marmalade. There are a lot of things I'd rather do than have to eat marmalade. But for some reason, my husband appreciates the bitter taste of orange peel and marmalade is like ambrosia to him. Each to his own. But because I love him, I made marmalade.

I'm not very accomplished at making jams. I'm terrified of ending up with syrup, so I usually cook a bit too long, to be on the safe side, and end up with chunky jam. With marmalade, since it's all chunks anyway, that didn't matter. This recipe was easy and made quite a bit of jam - enough to make my husband happy and even give a few jars away as gifts. Plus, even if I don't want to eat it, I always get a little burst of pride when I look in the pantry and see homemade jam jars lined up.



Orange Marmalade
- adapted from Barefoot Contessa At Home by Ina Garten

If you have it available to you, I'd say splurge on organic produce here. Since you're using the whole peel, you'd probably prefer to not have pesticides in your marmalade.

4 large seedless oranges
2 lemons
8 cups water
8 cups of sugar

Cut the oranges and lemons in half crosswise, then into very thin half-moon slices. Discard any seeds. Place the fruit and their juices into a large, stainless steel pot. Add the water and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring often. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar till it is dissolved. Cover and allow the mixture to stand overnight at room temperature.

The next day, put the pot back over heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 2 hours. Turn the heat up to medium and boil gently, stirring often, for another 30 minutes. Skim off any foam that forms on the top. Cook the marmalade until it reaches 220 degrees. The marmalade will be golden orange.

Pour the marmalade into clean, hot jam jars. Wipe the rims thoroughly to remove any jam overflow and seal with clean, hot lids. Label and store in the pantry for up to a year.