Orange Marmalade

I was watching the Food Network channel when Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) was on showing a few easy recipes to make for the holidays. One of them was truffles and the other was orange marmalade. Ever since, I had been wanting to make both the truffles and orange marmalade even though this household had never once bought orange marmalade before. (We've had truffles before). I was going to use our neighbor's oranges that hangs over on our side, but I tried one of them and they were still tart so away to Costco I went and just bought a bag. It was even better bc the Costco oranges were seedless. Whoohoo!

To make orange marmalade, I used 8 cups water, 4 navel oranges, 1 huge lemon, 6 cups sugar and 1/2 cup honey.

Chop off the ends of the orange, cut in half, and then slice. Repeat for all oranges.

(I only needed 1 lemon since our homegrown lemons are as large as a regular orange). Slice same as oranges. Remove seeds as you slice.

Throw all slices in a pot of 8 cups of water.

Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring often. Took about 30 minutes. Remove from the heat. 

Stir in the 6 cups of sugar until it dissolves. 

Cover and allow to stand overnight at room temperature.

The next day, bring the mixture back to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for about 2 hours. Stir in 1/2 cup of honey. Turn the heat up to medium and boil gently, stirring often, for another 30 minutes. Cook the marmalade until it reaches 222°F. 

Sterilize, then fill four pint jars. Wipe the rims thoroughly with a clean damp paper towel, and seal with the lids. Store in the pantry for up to a year.

They are such a pretty golden color! The very next day, I added marmalade to my oatmeal and it was super yummy! Also delicious on top of waffles and toast! :o)

FYI: for what to do to sterilize your jars, see Alton Brown's version.

Sidenote: I may reduce the sugar to 5 cups next time maybe add more honey instead.