Orange Marmalade Recipe | Small Batch Canning

How to Make Orange Marmalade

Love orange marmalade, but not sure how to make it?  We have a recipe that is perfect for making a small batch of marmalade.  You can make whenever you run out and need more.  Or maybe you want to give as gifts for the holidays or house warming.

We used seedless oranges for this recipe to make it simple.

Canning what you love allows you to enjoy fruits and veggies year round.

This recipe makes 4-5 half pints.

Ingredients:

3  cups sugar
3 cups ground up seedless orange peels & juice (about 4-5 seedless oranges)
1/2 teaspoon butter
3 tablespoon pectin

Equipment needed:

Automatic Jam/Jelly Maker
blender
knife
potato peeler
sterile canning jars (we use half pints)
sterile canning lids
canning bands
ladle
jar funnel
wet sterile paper towel
water bath canner

Instructions:

You will need to wash the oranges and then peel using a potato peeler to remove the skin, but leave the white part.

Using a knife, cut the white part off the orange, You can then segment the orange, to get the pulp without the membrane around each segment.  Take the 5th orange and juice the orange instead of segment.

Place the orange peels, juice and segments into a blender and grind for about 10-15 seconds.  We don’t want it smooth, we want it chunky.

Place the pectin evenly around the inside of the automatic jam/jelly maker, confirming the stirrer is in the maker.

Add the oranges and butter.

Press the Jam and the Enter buttons on the maker, confirming the time is set to 21 minutes.

After 4 minutes the maker will beep, indicating it’s time to add the sugar.  Pour the sugar into the mix and place the cover on top.

The maker will do all the work and stir the mix.

Ensure the seals and jars are ready to go and that you have the funnel, ladle and bands.

You will also want to have a wet sterile paper towel to clean the rim of the jars after filling.

Once complete, the maker will beep again when it is complete.

Remove the stirrer with a pot holder and set aside.

Begin filling each jar with the ladle and jar funnel. Leave 1 inch headspace (that is top from the jar) when filling.

Clean off each jar rim to ensure there is no marmalade to keep the jar from sealing.

Place a sterile seal/lid on top of each jar and hand tighten the band over the jar to secure the lid.

Place the jars of marmalade into water bath and process for 10 minutes.

Remove from the water bath and allow to cool and seal.

Date and label the jars, so  you know what it is.

Tips for canning marmalade

• Use seedless oranges, so you don’t have to mess with seeds
• We used 5 oranges, peeling all of them and juicing 1 (segmenting 4)
• Do not over fill the maker, make 1 batch and watch how far it boils up, before doubling the batch
• Make sure you measure the orange mix or you will not have the correct ratios to make marmalade (risking it not setting)
• While the orange marmalade is processing, get everything around you need for the next steps
• It takes about 60 minutes (or so) to make a batch of marmalade
• Wash your oranges before you start
• Adding butter helps reduce the foaming, you may need to skim foam if there is still foam
• You absolutely need a pot holder to remove the stirrer, that area is hot, so use caution!
• The maker is going to be hot as well, it was just holding the ‘pot’ of hot jam, so unplug and allow it to cool
• You  can process the oranges in the blender and then bag it, freeze it to make later if needed