when life gives you oranges...

when life gives you tons and tons of extra oranges and you just cant possibly drink another glass of oj, give the gift of orange whisky marmalade. as canning has become a new part of our kitchen activities, the desire to try newer and newer foods to can every week increases. we made this tasty marmalade after the desire to have a new excuse to eat more bread. I know we all try to eat less and less carbs, but lets be honest, if you have a surplus of amazing whisky orange flavored marmalade to spread around, bread "must" be in your house. we really love this marmalade because of the natural pectin from the seeds, no added pectin! we like to put it in small canning jars to ensure that we can spread this batch around to friends and have enough to last throughout the year. we hope you enjoy!

whisky orange marmalade

2 lbs valencia oranges
2 lemons
3 tbs whisky
18 oz sugar (for every 2 cups of fruit pulp)
cut fruit in half and juice. remove seeds and place in a cheese cloth and tie with a string. cut fruit into quarters and lay skin side down. using a knife, remove remaining flesh and pith from the rind and throw away. thinly slice the rest of the rind and place is a stainless steel bowl with the juice and the seeds in the cheese cloth. add about 7 cups of water. cover and refrigerate overnight.
place all ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours or until the rinds are soft. remove seed bag and let cool a bit and using tongs, squeeze over saucepan to extract pectin. measure the amount of fruit and add the correct amount of sugar as stated in recipe ingredients above. add whisky and return to a boil. simmer for another 35-40 mins. until starting to set.
place a spoon in the freezer for testing setting stage. to test, place 2 tbs. of marmalade on cold spoon and return to freezer for 2 mins.. remove and gently move finger through the middle of the set marmalade. if it stays in two separate halves, its done. start your general canning process.