A Taste of Orange - Jelly Making
Lucky find at the market - organic oranges. Oranges are sprayed with pesticides so I specifically look for organic produce. Remember this important little tidbit if you plan on utilizing the peel or rind in any manner.
A Zest for Life
Before I squeezed each orange, I zested them.
Set out the zested peel on a piece of parchment paper and place in a cool, dry place to air dry over the next few days. For years, I read recipes that included orange zest for some baked goods, blah, blah, blah. I naively thought, what was the big deal about orange zest. All of a sudden, while baking one day the stars aligned. I actually followed the recipe as written! Who knew those recipe developers were right? My new life recommendation is add orange zest whenever it is mentioned.
As a bonus wherever you place your tray of drying zest the entire room will smell AMAZING - like stepping into an orange grove.
The dried zest has found a happy home in my baking cupboard.
Boil, Boil, Toil and Trouble
After juicing the oranges I proceeded to the jelly making. You can do things the old-fashioned way and squeeze your oranges by hand, but I introduce a favorite kitchen tool from Oster, the 3186 Juice-n-Serve 27-Ounce Automatic Citrus Juicer. I purchased this beauty from Amazon in 2013 and it has juiced boxes of oranges, grapefruits, lemons and even the occasional lime. It works as required every time and clean up is easy.
This recipe for Homemade Orange Jelly from the Farm Girl Tails website is my favorite. It is easy, simple and always sets up very nicely.
A Magical Place - The Jam Closet
Our house contains a magical place known as the jam closet (though we let jelly live there too). After each lid pops, signaling the jar has sealed screw bands are removed. Remember, do not store home canned goods with the screw bands attached. This can mask if a sealing issue arises in the canned good over time. The labels are attached and jars are placed in the jam closet ready to be gifted and devoured.
