Blood orange jamalade

Jam on toast

The other day I bought a kilo of organic blood oranges feeling very good about myself, thinking I would peel them and feed them to the girls or use them in food, especially the zest, because it was organic. Days passed without any intentions of preparing them in any way. Days passed with bloggers' reports of making marmalade. Until I couldn't take it anymore, the buzzing reproach emanating from the fruit bowl, the dwindling supply of non-organic clementines and the still untouched cotton net full of oranges.

simple yet perfect

I set off to make marmalade in the least possibly complicated manner, which, after a bit of googling, seemed pretty impossible without a full day's prep and 2 hours of boiling. I had no time, but I had some (also very reproachful) jam sugar lurking in my cupboard. I tried to be clever and slice quarters of fruit very thinly but as the fruit was boiling in the syrup, I realized that the 7-minute cooking time of the jam sugar was never going to candy those slices of orange peel. I would end up with a bitter sugary orange-tasting mess no one would want to eat. So I put the pot to the side and plunged in my blender stick and voilà, 7-minute jamalade, not the stuff marmalade experts would want on their toast but good and effortless enough for me.

Bonjour!

Blood orange jam-alade

4 blood oranges, about 700 g
900g-1 kilo 7-minute jam sugar
250 ml mineral water (the water and oranges should have the same total weight as the amount of sugar)

Sterilize 5 glass jars (the Bonne Maman type), pour boiling water from the kettle on clean glasses and lids, leave for a couple of minutes, rinse out any limescale residue, then leave to dry,

Slice the oranges very thinly. Put them into a pot, preferably a large one, with the water and sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar and mix everything. Heat over a medium heat and after 4 or 5 minutes of stirring, put aside and blend until no big pieces of peel remain. Put back on the heat and bring to the boil. When it boils, stir and adjust the heat, to avoid it overflowing and keep on a high heat, stirring for 7 minutes. Ladle into your clean jars, screw on the lids and turn upside down. Leave to cool completely before turning up and storing.

This jam has a lovely bright color that brings a bit of sun in the grey days of winter, it tastes sweet but not overly so, orangey with a slight bitter edge. It was super easy to make.