Citrus season has inspired more triple citrus marmalade, which I found to be very photogenic food. I think the recent months of winter gray in the garden made the bright colors of the citrus really appealing. I like the bitter orange peel taste, so this is one I've made for several years. Of course, I just enjoy taking natural and healthful foods, like fruit, that are on sale and turning them into processed sugar coated treats, like jam.
This marmalade has oranges, tangerines, and lemons - peels and all. Brandon still thinks I tried to feed him poison when I gave him some last, but he likes his jam sweet and is "sensitive" to the bitter taste (he's a flavor wimp, really). That's okay - more for me!
It takes quite a while to cut up all the fruit, but mom and I took our time and experimented with mixing different types of home made wine while we worked. We found out that if you mix a the Storm Grape wine (2011, from mom's yard) and the Brandon's Uncle Junior's Persimmon wine (2010, from Brandon's uncles Junior's yard, of course), with a little Merlot from a box (2012, probably from Liquor Barn), it was an improvement over any of them on their own. At least that's what we thought after a few glasses.
The fruit, peels, and bag of seeds were cooked, then allowed to sit over night before I added the star anise and sugar, and cooked some more, and more, until I eventually got tired of simmering it and waiting for it to thicken. I poured it in jars and used a hot water bath to seal them. Hopefully it won't be too liquid, but if it will pour its easier to use in fruit cakes and keffir, so I don't mind.
We debated about putting the star anise in the jars with the marmalade since mom thinks they kind of look like giant brown spiders in the jar and can be quite shocking when you see them at a glance. I never really noticed that they look like giant spiders until I was at mom's house, deep in a forest teaming with invertebrates, working on the marmalade. Giant spiders are a very real possibility in that setting so your mind sees them even when they aren't there! Outside of the wilderness I think it looks kind of fancy.
We debated about putting the star anise in the jars with the marmalade since mom thinks they kind of look like giant brown spiders in the jar and can be quite shocking when you see them at a glance. I never really noticed that they look like giant spiders until I was at mom's house, deep in a forest teaming with invertebrates, working on the marmalade. Giant spiders are a very real possibility in that setting so your mind sees them even when they aren't there! Outside of the wilderness I think it looks kind of fancy.
We had a little extra marmalade and decided to try a vodka infusion, since everything is better soaked in alcohol, right? After sampling, we think it might be great in margaritas. We should probably try it when we haven't been mixing wines, though. It could be terrible under different circumstances.
I really liked the way it looked in the bottle when held against the light. Like we bottled a little bit of bright orange sunlight.
4 comments:
Those are incredibly good pics - and I know, I teach art for a living. However, I must take issue with the notion of a "flavor wimp" as marmalade tastes like the derriere of the orange.
Like I said, he's a flavor wimp!
This sounds like a very enjoyable way to spend a winter day!
I was a very enjoyable day! Thanks for making a comment and reminding me of the fun I had. I still have a few jar of the marmalade left, but I'm looking forward to making some more this winter.
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