Marmalade from Texas citrus?

Many would scoff at the notion of making marmalade from any orange except THE marmalade orange, the Seville. 

I don't have a Seville orange tree. I have a Texas Satsuma tree, and I'm not even sure of the actual variety. I do know that I hope it never dies. It's hardy, no thorns, and makes hundreds of pounds almost every year. 

My satsumas are wonderful. Thin skin, peelable with one hand, no seeds except for the 1 in 100 rebel that has 2-3, and super sweet and juicy. Can't beat them. But I've always been told they won't make marmalade.  Too juicy. Too thin of skin. .....

Then I married this Sicilian guy who told me that his family made marmalade out of every type of citrus grown on the island. The light bulb went on. And here I am making marmalade from Satsumas. 

The trick is doing it the old fashioned way. No timer. No thermometer. Just cooking and testing till it's done.  VERY IMPORTANT is to use organic unsprayed oranges. After all, you're eating the peel!  If you know they're organic but don't know about the spraying (as in you bought from the store), soak them in water with a half cup of white vinegar for an hour, scrub and rinse. 

Satsuma Marmalade 

Makes approx 9 pints 

4 kg organic clean satsumas (10lbs): 

*optional add 1 lemon per kilo for a change of taste. Yummy...

2400 gr sugar

1/2 -3/4 c water 

Jars, lids and rings 

You can halve this recipe for a first run and it still works great. 

In a large heavy bottom pot, dump in sugar and make a space in the center with a wooden spoon. Add the water and little by little stir in the sugar till it's all wet. Be patient and it'll happen. Then turn on the heat to medium and stir once in awhile. Cook till the sugar is dissolved. 

Meanwhile your fruit should be scrubbed and clean.  Slice each orange in half horizontally like this 

Flick out any seeds and set cut side down on a cutting board. With a sharp chopping knife slice in thin thin slices, rind, pulp and all.   

I like it really about 1/4" thick. Remember that they'll be staying about the same size in your marmalade. If you don't like the length of the strips you can cut them all in half, in the above photo it's just one more cut vertically. Cut them all, putting together with juices from the board into a bowl. 

When you're done cutting them all up, dump into your sugar. It doesn't have to be completely dissolved but if it dissolves before you're done, take the pot off the heat till you can put the fruit in. 

Mix in your oranges and poke down so that they're all sugared. 

Put on high heat until it comes to a boil, and then turn down to medium. It should stay at a nice medium boil (not a simmer or you'll be there all day). Boil for two hours, stirring every 8 minutes or so. I set a timer a I don't forget. 

Put a couple of saucers in the freezer if you haven't already and let freeze. Also wash your jars and set on a tray in the oven on 250. Put the flat lids in water in a saucepan and boil for a few minutes, then turn off and leave there. Your rings should be handy and if you have a wide mouth funnel for cleaner spooning in of marmalade have it out too. Lastly get a bath towel, fold in half, and lay on the counter off to the side (to set up the jam overnight). 

Your marmalade is looking like this 

Darker and more syrupy. After two hours, take a plate from the freezer and put a teaspoon of syrup in the center. Let sit a minute or two and then turn sideways. If it all runs off you need to cook it more. If just a drop runs out slowly you're ready. 

Take your jars out and set next to the pot, off the heat. Turn lids on medium and have tongs to get them.  Get a damp paper towel ready too.  

Using a hot pad, pick up a jar your with wide mouth funnel in it.  Spoon it full of orange bits, up to where the threading starts, and then fill in spaces with syrup. Leave that 1/2" threaded section of jar unfilled.  Wipe the rim with the wet paper towel, put a lid on with tongs, screw on the ring (not too tight), and invert on a towel. Yes upside down. When you've filled all the jars, fold the towel over the jars and tuck in to keep warm. 

Leave the jars there for about 90 minutes, then turn right side up and cover again. Let set up covered for about 8 hours or more.  All the lids should have popped down indicating a good seal. 

Now you can rinse off the sticky bits and store in the pantry. If you don't like the consistency you can either wait 2 weeks to see if it sets, and it does, or open those jars and cook some more. There is not enough syrup really to be runny and we love a little anyway on our bread, so a bit runny for us is fine. 

Not much else to say, except you can do this!  Once we learn the method behind our recipes we can learn to make adjustments to fit our circumstances. Some fruit is juicier than others, has more pectun, was picked longer ago...all these factors change how jelly sets up. I've cooked this marmalade between 2 and 3.5 hours depending on just the freshness of my satsumas. But it turned out each time wonderfully. Let me know how yours comes out!