Clementine-Brandy Marmalade

It's Clementine season!  A cross between a sweet orange and a Chinese mandarin, many people refer to them as tangerines but they are a different variety, entirely.  With a thin, tender skin, these almost-seedless beauties are a delight to peel and eat.  Don't pass these up at the store - the season is almost over!

I wanted to do something with these other than just peel and eat them (although I've done my share of that, too!) and found a recipe for Clementine-Brandy Marmalade.  Marmalade may be an acquired taste and as a child, I remember disliking it.  Orange marmalade seemed to have a bitter taste and I didn't like the texture of the peels.  Maybe I was too used to eating grape jelly - a staple in the 50's for making PB&J's.

This recipe uses about 10 Clementines, which made three, eight-ounce jars.  First step is peeling them and removing the white pith.  I used a carrot peeler and it did a pretty good job of getting only the outer layer of skin.

The peels are sliced into thin strips then placed in water and boiled gently for about 30 minutes, then drained.

The next step is rather labor-intensive.  The Clementine segments are separated all the white membranes must be removed.  By the time I peeled these, separated them and removed the membrane, I was done for the day!

I put the boiled and drained peel and the prepared fruit into plastic bags overnight.  The next day I cut up the fruit, added it to a pan with sugar, lemon juice, water, brandy, and the cooked peel.  This mixture was boiled until it reached a temperature of 220F, which took 35-40 minutes.

All that was left to do then was to fill the jars and process in a water bath.  This stuff is candy in a jar!  It's sweet and sticky with none of the bitterness I remembered marmalade having when I was young(er).  It's great on toast and I think it would be a wonderful glaze for chicken or pork, too.

Because this was a fair amount of work, I was tempted to rename it "Once in a Lifetime Marmalade", but I'll definitely make this again.  Next time I'll double the recipe and use four-ounce jars... perfect for gift-giving!

I found this recipe here, but you can PRINT RECIPE HERE.