all about marmalade

so i "marmaladed" yesterday - holy smokes, it was a lot of work, a lot of laughs, soreness, silliness & gratification. i've never canned or jarred anything & i've wanted to for a *really* long time. however, there was the whole perhaps-i-might-kill-someone-if-i-can-the-foods-the-wrong-way-thing holding me back. so i learned from a friend, and now, i'm ready to CAN EVERYTHING! you will not be able to stop me from jarring 50 glass containers of spaghetti sauce and raspberry jams & apricot yumminess &, &, &... :) without further ado, here are my instructions. have at it if you wish, but if you've never done it before, hanging out in a kitchen for 12 hours with 3 other awesome girls with one of them being your bossy beautiful teacher might be the way to go...i'm just saying!


Marmalade Nazi rules - aka "golden Spanish sunshine"

Wash seville oranges
Wash jars with soapy hot water
Use new dome lids - you can reuse the band rings
(Weck jars at Heath or French ones @ container store -- new rubber rings need to be used each time)
Dry oranges & cut in half - use clean towels
Cut in half grapefruit way
Juice them - strain the pips (seeds) & all juice into a bowl, set rinds aside for later
Sterilize jars in boiling water (do not put jars on direct bottom of pan) or you can sterilize in oven @ 300 degrees
Don't forget to pet the pepper & drink copious amounts of tea
Scoop all pith out of orange halves
Cut into quarters & scrape out as much pith as possible
Cut rinds into tiny slivers
Pour juice into pan
Wrap up pith & seeds in cheesecloth or linen & tie with string
Put into juice with slices of rind & add water (approx 10 cups water for 3 lbs of oranges)
Drink some cocktails!
Bring pot to a boil & then simmer for two hours
Go eat sausages & take a break
Squeeze bag of pith out
Cut & squeeze a coupla lemons into the pot of liquid sunshine
Add Approx 6 cups of sugar in the pot (depending on how sweet you want it)
Bring pot back up to a boil & stir to dissolve all them sugar granules
Bring down to a simmer & simmer for 35, 45, or more minutes - until some of the sugar juice placed into a frozen bowl gelatinifies - during this process "skim the scum"
Sterilize jars for 15 min in boiling water
Set on clean toweled surface & don't touch the rim or the jars at all - use the birthing tongs to take the jars out!
Use metal funnel to pour into jars - keep rims clear of jam -- leave about 1/2 inch below top of jar
Wipe edges totally clean & seal jars with lids & rings
Place back in boiling water for 15 min -this seals them
Eat it all up with some yummy breads!
Kiss & thank your teacher :)