Orange jam.

(In Portuguese)


I needed some orange jam to use in a cake recipe, so I decided to go for a classic take on fruit jam. Actually, the most complicated part was freeing the orange from all of the peel, the skin, the seeds...

I used four sweet oranges and a lime (because these summer oranges are weak in flavor and acidity), and the equivalent amount of sugar.

I forgot to take pictures peeling the oranges, and this is extremely important

so I'll try and explain using other websites as example.

The whole idea is to remove the white skin as much as possible, as well as the seeds and peel,

because when cooked these parts become bitter.

First of all, I cut off the top and bottom of the orange, with a very sharp knife.

It has to be a straight blade, because with a serrated one too much juice would be lost.

After that, I cut strips from top to bottom, removing both the peel and the white skin.

Here are some photos of that part:

http://saladsremixed.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-to-fillet-orange-or-any-other.html

Next I cut each slice out of the skin, as in the fifth picture in this post:

http://www.deliciousdays.com/archives/2010/02/18/a-tipsy-winter-dessert-arance-allaperol/

As soon as the fruit was ready, I tossed them into a sauce pan with 1/2 cup granulated sugar (the ideia is to use 1 part fruit to one part sugar), and let it rest overnight. 

In the morning I turned on the low heat and let it simmer for 30 minutes, avoiding to stir, until I could run a spoon through the jam and it left a line where I could see the bottom of the pan.

Since I was going to use it immediately, I didn't bother to sterilize the jar.

At some point in 2011 I intend to make some serious jams, then I make a post on them.

I really like the color and taste of the jam when it was ready.

It wasn't bitter, nor too acid, nor too sweet. Was with a fine orange taste.

Yumm!