What to do?

Last Tuesday, Kevin and I were given a bagful of oranges by Rolando during the coffee tour. So, what does one do with so many oranges before they go bad? Well, after juicing a whole lot, which was delicious by the way, I looked for other creative ways to use them up.

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I remembered that Kevin loves marmalade, so I searched and found a recipe on the internet. I've never made jam before, but there's always a first time. Here is a heap of orange peels in my compost bin. I did keep some of the peel for the marmalade, as called for in the recipe.

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This is my first attempt... but it poured out like very hot orange juice (all that stirring and reducing, and still so liquid). I secretly convinced myself that it would thicken up as it cooled. When I showed it to Kevin (to be honest, I was more excited about the jar I found... isn't it great?) he looked at me with that face that says 'I hate to have to tell you this, honey, so I won't, but please know by the look on my face, that whatever is in that pretty jar, is NOT and will never become marmalade unless you reduce it further.' He had a taste of this yummy juice and said it tasted just like proper marmalade (except for the consistency part), so with that encouragement, I decided to take heart and reduce it some more. Man oh man, I stirred as it boiled and eventually... and I do mean 'eventually', it got thicker. It reduced to the point that pouring it back into the original jar was ridiculous... my intention wasn't to make a huge batch since I didn't know if I'd make a mess of things (who me?), leaving it inedible, BUT I was hoping to have more than a thimble worth!

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So, in this much smaller (not particularly attractive) jar, I poured the much thicker... but still not really quite thick enough (yes, I did, yet again, convince myself it would thicken as it cooled). Then, I decided second batches are always way better anyway! So until next time...

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