Homemade Christmas Marmalade is made using the season’s best flavors: oranges and cranberries. A jar makes a beautiful gift for holiday hosts, friends, family, - any deserving person will enjoy receiving a jar. It is delicious on toast, or served alongside roast turkey for Christmas dinner. This easy recipe can be completed from start to finish in just a couple of hours, including the water bath canning method. However, if you'd rather skip the water bath, the marmalade will keep well in the refrigerator for up to 1 whole month. Yields about five 8 oz. jars.
Scrub the whole navel oranges under running tap water with a scrub brush. Pat dry. Wash and dry fresh cranberries. Leave them to further dry while you sterilize the canning jars.
Sterilize jars and lids by dipping them in a pot of boiling water. Set aside on dishtowels to dry. They will dry almost instantly as the hot water evaporates quickly.
Remove the zest from the oranges, avoiding the white pith just below the orange skin. Use a vegetable peeler for quick work (see blog post for link). Cut the peel into fine strips.
Cut the white pith away from the oranges using a serrated knife. Chop the oranges with membranes into pieces and transfer them, along with their juices to a large cooking pot. (If there are any particularly tough pieces of membrane, such as the tough ring around the navel orange, discard it.) Add the cranberries and sugar to the pot. Stir well.
Bring the mixture to a rolling boil over medium-high heat (this may take about 15-20 minutes) stirring frequently. When the mixture is boiling vigorously, cook for 30 seconds with a timer set while stirring constantly. Remove from the heat
Stir in the pectin and lemon juice (the acid from the lemon juice activates the pectin, so don’t skip this ingredient). Add the orange peel and fine lemon zest. Return the pot to medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Once the mixture boils, cook for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Stir the mixture and skim off any large areas of foam on top of the marmalade.
Pour the marmalade into the sterilized jars. Wipe the jar rims with a damp cloth and lid the jars. If you’re not using the water bath canning method, allow the jars to cool to room temperature before storing them in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.
For the water bath canning method, immerse the jars into a simmering water bath that completely covers their tops. I use a canning set with a rack, but you could simply put the jars in a large pot without a rack. Boil them for 10 minutes, then remove them using tongs from the bath to cool at room temperature. When you hear the lids pop, they are sealed. Sealed jars of marmalade are shelf stable for up to two years.
Notes
This marmalade can be stored in the freezer. Use freezer jars that can be found in the grocery store canning section. Jar and freeze them for up to 1 year. This recipe was adapted from the Ball Blue Book of Preserving.