When I first opened Christine Ferber’s Mes Confitures nearly a decade ago, I was surprised–étonnée, one might say–to find the book filled with fussy measures and overly precise instructions. This was a cookbook written by a home cook from France, a country where an ability to summon something from nothing by playing fast and loose with pantry ingredients is considered a birthright and where summoning elegant menus without mindlessly mimicking recipes to the letter has long been lauded as art.
Yet this lovely book’s uncharacteristic exactness never fails to turn out preserves of the most pristine flavors imaginable. It took only a single batch for me to appreciate Ferber’s less-than-lyrical wording, her unerringly precise amounts, her sweet tooth in terms of preserves, and her knack for selecting substance over style, all of which ensure that my kitchen epiphanies were as memorable as hers. The recipes I cherish most are those whose ingredients have an especially fleeting season, recipes which enable the reader to extend the ephemeral. Clearly, this is an author who knows her audience–perhaps better than they know themselves.–Renee Schettler Rossi
LC Delayed Gratification Note: This gem of a winter recipe necessitates patience–and not just in terms of waiting for blood orange season to come around again. It requires resting time on the part of the ingredients. It’s perhaps best undertaken on a weekend, when you have a spare moment to actually slow down and revel in what’s perhaps best described as the opposite of immediate gratification–in the best possible way.
Active time: 45 minutes | Total time: 1 hour, 30 minutes, not including chilling and setting
Blood Orange Marmalade Recipe
Ingredients
| metric conversion- 1 3/4 pound Granny Smith apples, preferably organic, unpeeled
- 4 1/8 cups water
- 2 3/4 pounds blood oranges, preferably organic, or 17 ounces blood orange juice
- 5 2/3 cups sugar (or a touch less if you prefer your marmalade classically tart)
- 2 navel oranges, preferably organic
- Juice of 1 small lemon
Directions
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- Day One
- 1. Rinse the apples under cool running water. Remove the stems and cut the apples into quarters without peeling them.
- 2. Place the apples in a preserving pan or other large, wide pot and cover with 3 1/4 cups of the water. Bring to a full boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for 30 minutes. The apples should be soft.
- 3. Collect the juice by straining the apple mixture into a large bowl, lightly pressing on the apples with the back of a skimmer or a spoon. Discard the solids.
- 4. Filter the juice a second time by pouring it through cheesecloth that was wet under cool running water and wrung out, letting the juice run freely into a glass container. Refrigerate the juice overnight.
- Day Two
- 5. Measure 2 1/8 cups of the apple juice, leaving in the container the sediment that formed overnight. Discard the remaining juice and sediment.
- 6. Squeeze the blood oranges, saving any seeds, until you have 2 1/8 cups of juice. Place the seeds in a cheesecloth bag.
- 7. Rinse and scrub the navel oranges under cool running water. Slice the oranges into very thin rounds.
- 8. Place the sliced oranges in a preserving pan or other large, wide pot. Add 1 cup of sugar and the remaining 7/8 cup of water and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat to medium and gently simmer until the slices are translucent.
- 9. Add the reserved apple juice, blood orange juice, the remaining 4 2/3 cups of sugar, the lemon juice, and the reserved orange seeds in cheesecloth. Bring to a boil, stirring gently. Skim any foam from the surface. Continue cooking on high heat, stirring constantly, for about 10 minutes. Skim again if need be. Remove the cheesecloth with the seeds. Return to a boil. Remove from the heat.
- 10. Immediately ladle the jam into hot, sterilized jars and seal.
- Blood Orange Lemon Bars from Eating Out Loud
- Blood Orange Cocktail from The Hungry Mouse
- Blood Oranges, Dates, Parmesan, and Almonds from Leite's Culinaria
- Valencian Orange Tart from Leite's Culinaria
Blood Orange Marmalade Recipe © 2002 Christine Ferber. Photo © 2006 Kemter All rights reserved.
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Has anyone made this yet? I know jam recipes don’t work so well when you scale them up, how about halving?
This is a fabulous recipe. I made it two weeks ago, and already have given one jar away and eaten one other myself. I still can’t believe the exquisite taste of the Blood Oranges preserved, not to mention the wonderful colour. I sliced blood oranges instead of the Navels recomended, and couldn’t have been more thrilled with the result. It took me a little longer than the ten minutes to achieve the set (more like 15 to 20 minutes) but the marmalade eventually achieved a wonderful set.
I used these quantities and would recommend not scaling it up. If you need to make more, do it twice or three times. Bon Apetite
So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Blood oranges are one of my favorite things.
I made this for some guests this weekend and they absolutely loved it.
Terrific, Miley! No surprise, though it’s always lovely to hear. And hopefully you have some leftover to see you through the week…and next week…and the next week…
Blood oranges are a welcome burst of color in the wintertime. I made this recipe over the weekend, keeping in mind your delayed gratification note! It turned out wonderfully, despite the fact that I didn’t get enough juice from my apples and added water to make up the difference. Also, I loved the look of the whole orange rounds in the finished marmalade, but I think I would consider smaller pieces next time. Thanks for sharing this lovely recipe.
You’re welcome, Ginger. Our pleasure. We love when someone tweaks a recipe to make it their own, as all our preferences are so crazily varied. Lovely work on that.
A question: ” Ladle into hot sterilized jars and seal.” I can a lot and usually boil jams for 10 minutes or so after ladling them into the jars. Is that what the directions mean? Am I missing something here?
Yes, Linnea, that’s exactly what the recipe means. Each canning recipe has their own way of wording these things…
Thanks!
I just made a batch of Blood Orange Marmalade from another recipe but this one looks more amazing! I am so making it this weekend.
Let us know how it goes, Brenda!
A question about the sugar…
I was on my way to a gorgeous marmalade but the end product was far too sweet and overwhelmed the orange nuances. I am sure that means I took a wrong turn somewhere… any ideas how this happened? I should also mention that it took the marmalade a long time to set, over 20 min.
Thanks in advance!
Cara
Cara, it is understandable that this has been frustrating for you as you took the time (and patience!) to make this marmalade and it did not turn out as you had hoped. I, too, found it to be a bit sweeter than the more bitter/tart marmalades we are accustomed to. However, I did not find it too sweet for my taste but then the apples I used were very tart as I buy very hard and green Granny Smiths. The blood oranges I used were also quite tart yet very juicy-sweet, if that makes any sense. Did you leave the apples unpeeled? That helps to thicken the marmelade. I also sliced the blood oranges instead of using navel oranges, as that is what I had and thought it would look even more gorgeous. (It did.) The marmalade took nearly 20 minutes to set for me as well but that has sometimes happened in my experience in making preserves–it was very likely not something you did incorrectly. If you did not add too much sugar perhaps the fruit itself was not tart enough. Could this have been the case? Perhaps you missed adding the lemon juice? Hopefully some of this helps.
Thanks for taking the time to write me Brenda! My Granny Smith apples were more on the side of middle-tart, but I did indeed leave them unpeeled, having read that it’s essential to getting more pectin yield. I sliced my blood oranges, too! But maybe next time I will omit the navel and add a lemon. I think you’re right: They key here is to taste the fruit and determine the sweetness. Would reducing the sugar upset the thickening process? Thanks for the help!
My pleasure, Cara. When you’ve made something that is so very good, you just want others to be able to share in it! :-) It truly does sound as though you did everything right. Usually reducing sugar in making preserves does affect the process but you know what? Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to add a touch more lemon juice and a bit less sugar as there is a fair amount of pectin in the apples. If that doesn’t work let’s blame the fruit!
You’ve got me very curious – I want to try it again, too! However, I am away from home at the moment so cannot. If I can still find the oranges I am going to add some liquid pectin and use 1/2 cup less sugar to see whether that might work.
If you try it again I would love to know the results.