Try It Out Tuesday - Orange Marmalade (IS apparently harder than it looks!)

I decided on trying my hand at orange marmalade this week to use up a gigantic bag of oranges we had in the fridge (which apparently no one was going to eat).

Click here for the original pin on my Food/Recipes board.

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*Don't forget to click over to Kelly's blog, My Purple Brick Road, for a tasty review of Nutella S'mores!

I chose this recipe simply because it looked easy, fool-proof and didn't use pectin (I don't keep that on hand and didn't want to buy any).  This particular site gave wonderful step by step directions and photos.  The original recipe it links to is here.

I peeled the oranges, slivered the peel, cut up the oranges and plopped them all into my trusty stock pot.

I added water and sugar in the amounts called for and set it to boiling. I am damn sure think this is where I went wrong.

When I looked back over the recipe (I read it a dozen times before I started, one would think I'd get it right!)...it says to boil the oranges and peel for at least an hour until soft...THEN add the sugar.  It should only take about an hour to hour and a half to obtain marmalade-y texture and consistency.

Yeah, right. 

I boiled and boiled and boiled my mixture. 

And boiled some more.

When it hit the three hour mark with no signs of the slightest inclination of jelling...I called it a draw. 


I now have a stock pot full of orange vanilla sludge.  It smells wonderful, it even tastes pretty good.  However, it is no where NEAR marmalade.

Modifications: I added about a tsp of vanilla. It smelled delicious and gave it an interesting flavor.

Fail Factors: The entire project was a total and utter fail. But I believe that is all my fault as I didn't wait to add the sugar.

For The Win: The recipe really is simple. (And successful if done right, I assume).

Will I attempt this recipe again? Yes, simply because I will NOT BE DEFEATED!!! LOL

Have you made homemade jams or jellies?  With or without pectin? How have yours turned out? Any tips for the novice?

*"Try It Out Tuesday" is a blog hop (or blog party) created by 3 friends, and is inspired by Pinterest. We choose one, sometimes two "pins" (if you want to be labeled an overachiever, just sayin') per week, try them out, and review them on our blogs. Anyone can join in, just leave the link to your Try It Out Tuesday post in the comments and we'll add you to the list! C'mon, Try It Out!