A glorious heap of oranges, grown a couple of gardens down, picked and gifted to me yesterday.
Simple recipe, adapted from a traditional Scottish approach: we're famous for our orange marmalade, despite the fruit not growing in our country!
The cutting into tiny pieces took a good hour and a half - lots of pips (seeds) - and I could've done that mechanically, but the time and effort required has a profoundly meditative effect, which allows me to connect deeply with what I'm doing, and allows what the process wants to transmit to me, also...
There are bitter oranges, lemons, Demerara sugar, and some water in this marmalade - they're a particular type of orange that gives the distinctive translucent jelly that I grew up with.
I boiled the mixture around half an hour, til it was thickening noticeably.... then checked with my jam thermometer, that it was near the setting point - but the intense boiling that brings it to this high temperature usually causes the marmalade to burn the pan, so I tend to remove it from the heat before that point (108°C or 220°F)... But this time I let the bubbling rage a bit longer than usual, and it did add a gentle burnt orange into the mix - yuuuummmmm!
When I was a wee being, oranges were something of an exotic luxury - I never get over the thrill them living on trees right next to my house, and my having access to copious quantities of them throughout the months that lead us into winter....
Today I've been celebrating that richness of flavour, colour, connection and Nature, the alchemising of the raw fruit into a jarred heaven that'll grace my toast for the next year or more! A beautiful start to the new cycle, following yesterday's most potent solstice and conjunction!