Saturday, February 15, 2014

Orange Creamsicle Marmalade

I have really enjoyed learning about canning lately. I had a good time making berry jam last weekend, and decided to try some marmalade this weekend. My boyfriend loves oranges, so I went with a pretty traditional orange marmalade recipe, except I added some vanilla extract at the end to give it an almost creamsicle taste without any cream.


I started by scrubbing the oranges really well, and halving them then slicing them really thin and combining them with lemon juice and zest, and water. Cooked it down for over an hour until the peels broke down into smaller pieces, and added the sugar. Then cooked it more until it reached the gel point.




Then I put it in the jars and processed it for 10 minutes and voila! Delicious, bright tasting orange marmalade, with a hint of vanilla. I think it really could have used more vanilla to really get the creamsicle taste, but it still tastes really good. It set up perfectly, I had just a little extra that I was able to taste test. All my jars sealed too, which is encouraging in itself. I really can't wait until summer when I can put up things from my own garden. We usually do mostly tomatoes, but I have a blackberry bush, that hopefully will put out enough this year to make some more jam, and maybe I can convince my boyfriend to take me to some pick your own farms nearby :)

Friday, February 14, 2014

Mixed Berry Jam

Just a quick update post, we've had a crazy amount of snow and bad weather and I took a tumble a week or so ago and busted my rump so I haven't been nearly as productive on the sewing front as I would like to be, but I did make some jam! 


I've been wanting to try canning for a while now, as I mentioned before, and last weekend I have it a shot. The jam came out perfect! It set perfectly, all my jars sealed and it tastes amazing! I hope to make some orange marmalade this weekend and finish the other dress for my boyfriend's niece!

Hope you're all staying warm!