How to Make Marmalade – NYT Cooking

All throughout the year, fruit can be turned into tart jams, wiggly jellies and smooth, comforting fruit butters. But once the bleakness of winter sets in, that routine feels like a necessity, turning citrus into bright marmalade that invigorates morning toast. Making marmalade is truly the best thing about winter. And, as Paddington knows, it’s wonderful when spread into sandwiches. (A couple slices of Cheddar in there are great, too.)

Marmalade techniques abound, and many are complicated, but everyone can master this easy recipe with good old-fashioned navel oranges and a little patience. This method comes from years of experimenting and delivers the most streamlined path to the most potent hit of citrus. The tricks below ensure perfect preserves.

Jars of from-scratch marmalade are wonderful gifts to give throughout the year.Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Start with fruit you can find.

Traditional recipes call for Seville oranges, bitter, sour, fragrant citrus fruits that stand up to the amount of sugar needed for proper preserves. Grown primarily in Spain, Sevilles are only in season from midwinter to early spring and aren’t easy to find in the United States. Because their bitterness can be quite powerful, the peels are often blanched up to three times: boiled, drained and rinsed to remove some of their bite.

To mimic the unique tangy bittersweetness of Sevilles, simply use a combination of oranges and lemon. Not only are they more readily available and affordable, they take less time to turn into marmalade. Navel oranges have a pleasing, balanced bitterness, so there’s no need to repeatedly blanch the peels.

Plan for an overnight soak.

Navel orange and lemon peels only need to be boiled once, but must be left in their boiling liquid for 12 to 24 hours to extract as much pectin as possible. The pectin within the peels’ walls acts as a gel to set jelly into a wobbly blob. Without it, you would have only heavy orange syrup.

Pick the right pot.

The depth and width of the Dutch oven or heavy pot used affect the evaporation rate of the water, and thus, can alter the cook time of the marmalade dramatically. For this recipe, a 7 ½- to 8-quart pot that’s 11 inches in diameter provides adequate space to set marmalade more quickly. If you don’t have a pot this big, halve the recipe to cook in a 4-quart pot.

Slice the orange peels as you please.

Quarter-inch-thick slices are classic, but you can go super thin or cut the peels into small squares. It depends on whether you want large, chewy pieces or thin slivers that blend into the surrounding jelly more seamlessly. And while many recipes start with cutting raw orange peels into shreds, this method cooks the peels first, which softens them and makes the cutting process much easier on your hands. If you prefer to skip slicing altogether, you can use a food processor to pulse the peels into smaller, irregular pieces. The choice is up to you.

Stick to the sugar quantity.

If the weight of the oranges is a couple ounces lower or higher than the prescribed amount, it’s OK. Just don’t alter the quantity of sugar. While it may be tempting to reduce it, the marmalade won’t set correctly with any less. This recipe uses more lemon juice than traditional versions (plus their spent peels), and is pleasantly bitter from the orange peels. Rest assured, it will not taste cloyingly sweet, but rather, balanced and bright as all great fruit preserves should.

Test for a just-right consistency.

The most important note is in regards to timing: Because this recipe doesn’t use powdered pectin, the cooking time may vary by up to 30 minutes. It relies instead on the pectin leached from the orange peels, and the amount and strength of pectin in each orange varies, as do most things in nature. The time needed for the marmalade to set will depend on how big the oranges are and how much pectin their peels have.

The best way to ensure the marmalade is spreadable without being too syrupy or firm is by testing it. Put plates in the freezer when you start soaking your boiled fruit. Once the marmalade has cooked, spoon the hot peels and liquid onto one of the frozen plates. Return the plate to the freezer for a minute, then push your finger through the liquid. If it wrinkles and clings to the transparent peels in a jellylike coating, the marmalade is ready. If it doesn’t, keep boiling it until it does.

This is the easiest and, blessedly, least complicated way to make a zesty marmalade. It will help get you through winter until the sun takes over and gets back to its job.

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