Homestead on Lakeside

Here is our journey to making and enjoying delicious orange honey marmalade. I hope you enjoy this sticky sweet treat as much as we do! Growing up, I didn’t eat marmalade, but became fascinated with it after introducing my children to the story Paddington. I wanted to taste this sweet golden treat that Paddington seems so obsessed with. What does it taste like, and why is it called marmalade and not jam? Thus began my quest to figure out about marmalade and how to make it.

Marmalade is made with citrus and includes part of the whole fruit and the rind. It traditionally has just three ingredients: water, citrus, and sugar. I’ve often made fruit jams. I usually try to reduce or replace the sugar with honey when making jams, and I never use pectin. There are ways to use fruit peels, which naturally contain pectin to help thicken your jams. Here is my no added sugar, no added pectin strawberry apple jam that we make around strawberry picking season. Since marmalade uses the rind and the rind contains pectin, no added pectin is needed for marmalade.

Most marmalade traditionally contains a lot of sugar. I substituted a portion of the sugar with honey for an equally delicious spread. In order to get a marmalade that isn’t bitter, it also makes a difference in how you prepare the oranges.

The pith of the citrus, the white part just under the skin, is very bitter. When preparing your oranges, be sure to remove as much of the pith as possible. You’ll have less bitterness and won’t need as much sugar to cover up the bitter.

Another key to making a perfectly sweet and tart marmalade is to cook the rind first, then cook the remaining ingredients in a slow cooker for the rest of the time. For the slow cooking, I used my pressure cooker with the slow cooker option and it worked perfectly for the long cooking time of marmalade. I really like the versatility of my Cosori pressure cooker. Often, I hear large families complain about how their pressure cookers brake too easily. We use ours almost every day and after 6 years it is still going strong.

Orange Honey Marmalade Ingredients:

8 juicy oranges (I used various sizes)

2 cups of honey

3 cups of sugar

5 cups of water

Orange Honey Marmalade Recipe:

Step 1

Start by washing your oranges well. We picked these oranges fresh from the citrus farm on a rainy day, so they were particularly dirty. Click here to see our visit to this beautiful Central Florida citrus farm.

Then peel the oranges with a vegetable peeler. Be sure when peeling to only get the skin and not the pith. If you get too much pith on some of the peels, you can take a pairing knife and scrape the pith off of the back of the peel. My vegetable peeler worked great for this and the key was to not push too hard when peeling.

Some marmalades call for long thin pieces of peel. I prefer my peel in smaller bits, so I chopped the peel into medium sized bits. You should have one cup of peel. Cook the peel in one cup of water for about an hour.

Step 2

While the peel is cooking, use a sharp knife to remove the pith from the oranges. Once the pith is removed, cut the oranges into slices for easier removal of the seeds and membranous part of the wall lining of the slice. Our oranges were loaded with seeds. So I took each orange slice and held it over my pot while I removed the seeds and large bits of membrane with my hands, so just the juice and pulp would go into my pot.

Once you have the one cup of peel and your 8 oranges juice and pulp in your pot add 4 more cups of water and bring to a low boil.

Step 3

Then add your honey and sugar and stir frequently over medium high heat until all of the honey and sugar is dissolved. Reduce your heat to a low medium heat and cook with the lid on for 6 hours, stirring occasionally.

Turn off the heat and let your marmalade mixture sit overnight. The next morning over medium heat and while stirring often, cook the marmalade with the lid off until the liquid has reduced almost by half. This took about 3 hours. You’re cooking it with the lid off to evaporate some of the liquid and make the marmalade thicker. You can continue cooking with the lid off until you have your desired thickness.

One way that you can check with thickness is by taking a small spoonful of marmalade and placing it on a plate. Then place the plate in the freezer. After about 15 minutes, you can check the consistency of the marmalade on the plate. If it has jelled to your liking the marmalade is done cooking.

This marmalade with label makes the perfect gift for a friend or neighbor. I have created a 3.5 inch by 4 inch Orange Honey Marmalade label available for download. Just enter name and email and click the link to download.

Before pouring the marmalade into the jars, place your printed labels on the jar. Once the marmalade has cooled enough to handle, pour the marmalade into 16 ounce glass canning jars and place the lid on the jars. This recipe yields approximately three to four 16 ounce jars of marmalade, depending on the sizes of your oranges. Place the jars in the refrigerator and allow to fully cool and jell over night. Your marmalade is now ready to enjoy!

I hope you enjoy this marmalade as much as we have. Follow along @homesteadonlakeside for more homemade family recipes and inspiration.

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