It wasn't until I had a rhubarb infused hard cider at a cider fest earlier in the year that I started to appreciate the culinary aspect of this plant. Behold! Strawberry-rhubarb syrup for cocktails and soda drinks. I saw this recipe on my RSS feed from Smitten Kitchen. It is a very simple recipe that smells fruity and has a tangy sour-sweet taste.
Also this was my first time using rhubarb in a recipe. Should you happen to buy the stalks fresh, trim and discard the ends as you would with a stalk of celery. Then chop or dice as normal.
Yield: 3 cups
Usage: 2 tbsp per 6-8 oz of chilled sparkling water or sparkling wine
After a failed batch of trying to make apple sauce with apples from my Frankenstein tree, I decided to make a marmalade (a citrus jam made from fruit flesh and peel) using Satsuma oranges. I chose these oranges because they have a relatively smooth skin, the peel is bright orange and it has a nice fragrance. They are also very easy to peel after having been peeled with a vegetable peeler. I made candied orange peels earlier in the day.
After having read Ina Garten's recipe on Food Network, I realized that her no-pectin version had water and sugar as a simple syrup ratio. Her two hour simmering time is to reduce the water in the jam liquid. I halved her water/sugar ratio to just four cups each. The Satsuma oranges are really sweet on their own. And, instead of adding whole lemons, I used just the juice of two fresh lemons.
You can make your own liquid pectin from boiling the peel and pith of oranges or lemons, or green apple peels, in water. Read more about homemade citrus pectin on this link.
Ingredients
3 lbs (6 large) Satsuma oranges, peeled and thinly sliced
4 c simple sugar syrup (4 c water + 4 c sugar)
prepared orange peels (from 4 oranges)
4 tbsp fresh lemon juice (2 large lemons)
Directions
1. Prepare orange peels by using a non-serrated vegetable peeler to remove orange part of peel from oranges. Thinly slice peels with a sharp knife. Put peels in a pot and cover it with enough water to cover the peels. Bring to a boil and boil for 20 minutes. Drain water and set peels aside.
2. In a separate pot, combine 4 cups of water with 4 cups of sugar. Bring to a boil and stir so that all the sugar dissolves. Add sliced oranges and simmer on low heat for 2 hours, or until the liquid volume has reduced by half.
The temperature will drop to 180-200 degrees F while it simmers. Stir occasionally and skim off the foam.
3. Add prepared orange peels, bring to a boil and heat the mixture up to 220 degrees F. Cook for 10 minutes. The peels should turn almost translucent at the soft ball stage. Remove from heat and fill sterilized pint or half pint jars.
4. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.
Makes 3 pints or 6 half pints.
