Marmalade

 Marmalade

I love marmalade! I love the chunks of bitter citrus rind turned sweet and chewy. I love the beautiful color and glossiness of it. Mmm. So yummy!

Today I made some citrus marmalade with a twist. I used Grapefruit, Oranges, and Tangerines. I'm planning a winter camp out in my fort soon and I want to try to use some foraged foods while I'm out there. There ARE things you can forage and eat in Michigan even in the winter. I decided to add a few of these things to my marmalade JUST BECAUSE I CAN. Ha ha ha!

I added pine needles, tiny wild rose hips, and crab apples. It looks beautiful and tastes yummy too. I may not actually eat the bigger packs of pine needles, but I thought it would add to the beauty.

It was a nice day out today and I enjoyed my walk around the property gathering these ingredients.

Below is the only good size rose hip I could find. My Mom has beautiful rose bushes that get huge rose hips on them. I wanted to get some from her, but she had already trimmed them off in the Fall.

I have tons of these tiny little rose hips on the property. They are from wild roses.

I don't know if it's because of cold days or what, but I could only find these 4 crabapples still on trees. Usually I would see more in the winter and even some regular apples still on the trees, but this year, they've all fallen off and gotten eaten or buried by the snow. You can eat these and regular apples in the winter if you need to. I read that the crabapples actually are better in winter after they've frozen. I agree. These were sweeter now than they are in the Fall.

The pretty rose hips. These tasted good all on their own too. They are sweet and fruity. I eat the whole fruit. For bigger rose hips, I might leave out the seeds.

The one bigger rose hip and the tiny pine buds.

Here is what I used for citrus, a whole grapefruit, 2 oranges, and 3 tangerines.

Grapefruit fruit and rind

Tangerine fruit and rind

Orange fruit and rind

The seeds inside the tiny rose hips

I mixed it all together in a pot with 2 cups of sugar and a splash (less than a cup) of orange juice. I also added 2 teaspoons of real vanilla extract to add a bit of flavor.

I brought the mixture to a boil and then simmered it for just a bit more than an hour until it was the right consistency.

I just put it into two jars. Not canning or freezing it. Just keeping it in the fridge. I know it will keep a while in there and I plan on using it pretty soon.

I think it will be great on my homemade biscuits for my camp out, maybe on pancakes, and even baked on top of some brie cheese. Mmm. I wish I had some brie cheese right now to try it on. Isn't it pretty?