Homemade Orange Marmalade

I had a mountain of aging oranges that went unconsumed when we were all out of town for an extended period of time. They were too nice to throw out, but not nice enough to eat anymore so I thought I'd take a stab at making my own marmalade It might not be as pretty as the store bought variety, but it is delicious!  This recipe makes a sweeter California style marmalade -- considerably less bitter than the variety that you buy in most stores. It's easy but the chopping and cutting does take a little bit of time. Put on a good old movie and get to chopping. Well worth the effort! Yummy on a homem

10 medium oranges

3 T. low sugar pectin

3 T. lemon juice

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 T. unsalted butter 

3 c. sugar

2 T. whiskey

Wash and dry the oranges. Use a sharp knife or vegetable peeler, remove a thin a layer of peel/rind. Try to exclude any pith (the white portion of the peel). Chop into small pieces and put into saucepan. Cover with water and simmer about five minutes. Repeat twice, draining after each round of simmering. 

While rind is simmering, peel the oranges down to the flesh (cut off the white portion of the peel). I start by cutting off both ends of the orange to create a flat surface; it makes peeling the skins off easier. Segment the oranges over  large bowl (cut out the flesh, leaving the pith and dividing segment membrane behind). 

When the rinds have been simmered and drained three times (making them less bitter, and softer), add them to the segmented orange chunks. Put all of this pulp/rind mixture into a food processor (I use my Vitamix) and pulse about three times. 

Measure the resulting chunky puree to see if you have about four cups. You can add a little orange juice or water to bring the mixture up to four cups. Mine comes out to be about six cups at times. I just multiple the quantity of the other ingredients by 1.5 and it comes out fine. 

Dump the orange puree into a big sauce pan and add the lemon juice, pectin, salt, ground cloves and butter. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer (constantly stirring) for about five minutes. 

Add the sugar and stir, bringing the puree to a rapid boil for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, and let sit for two minutes to cool slightly. Stir in a good Kentucky bourbon (we use Bookers) and stir in. The jam is ready to preserve. You may can (preserve) this Marmalade like you would any cooked jam or you can freeze it in airtight containers. I keep one container at a time in my refrigerator and it lasts fine for three to four weeks (but it'll be eaten before that time!).