I would try a batch of marmalade.

Yes, if they are Seville types, they make great marmalade. If your wanting them to be growing sweeter, it may be that soil ammendments are needed.

Sour oranges are just perfect for marmalades. But you could try this jam, too.

Orange Jam
4 large oranges
1 litre water
750g sugar
1 tablespoon brandy

Peel the oranges thickly to remove the white pith, discard the skin. Chop oranges roughly, discarding the pips. Combine orange pulp with the water in a saucepan and cover. Bring to the boil and reduce heat, then simmer for 20 minutes or until pulp is just tender. Measure the mixture and add 1 cup of sugar for each cup of orange mixture. Return orange mixture and sugar to saucepan and stir over heat without boiling until sugar has dissolved. Boil rapidly, uncovered and without stirring, for about 20 minutes or until the mixture sets when tested. Stand for 5 minutes, stir in the brandy. Bottle, seal when cold.

You could squeeze out the juice and freeze it for use in assorted dishes, and you could grate the rind and freeze it, ditto. The sourness won't be noticed in savoury dishes, or, indeed in things like cakes, muffins etc.

Oranges will be sour if the soil isn't fertilised enough, and if the watering is insufficient or irregular.

Belinda, sour oranges are bad for you. Best bet is to box them up and ship them to me for proper disposal. :>)

The valencia type oranges are sour at this time of the year. A better variety would be the Washington naval types that ripen in the winter.

I have Valencias and they are quite sour now. When we get more heat, they will be very sweet - around June or July - when they are the sweetest.

I wouldn't hesitate to use them for orange marmalade or jelly, but a little sugar added makes them a bit more palatable for drinking straight otherwise.

My experiment with making orange jelly is described in some past postings. It was OK, but I'm still perfecting the home made pectin use made from the peelings. It has merit but needs "fine tuning." I'm also utilizing limes for the same purpose as I have ripe Persian limes dropping now. I freeze a lot of lime/lemon/citrus in ice cube trays for off season use.

Using - especially the frozen lime or lemon juice cubes - popped into summer time fruit juices - berries, apples, pears, etc., enhances the flavor of jellies and jams - so they come in handy for that purpose.

Bejay

Daisy, that orange-brandy jam sounds excellent. Thanks for sharing it.

I'm assuming "mixture" refers to both oranges and water, correct?

Carol

Thanks for responses. She says they are not valencies but just sour oranges. I'm thinking any recipe which uses lemon juice might also work for these oranges? Is there such a thing as sour orange wine?

Personally I think flavor-wise sour oranges would work well in any lemon recipe. You might even like it better. However, oranges are quite a bit less acid than lemons, so I can think of recipes where oranges could not be substituted with an absolute assurance of safety.

I can't answer the orange wine question. My experience with that is very limited; I know others on the forum have much more expertise. But I do have a recipe for a citrus vinegar and also for orange liqueur.

If you have freezer space, a compound butter with some orange juice and peel would be really good, especially used with poultry and fish. Also orange works well in homemade mustards.

Carol

Sour oranges are used a lot in Carribean cooking. The juice is used in marinades for meat and fish, like you would use lime or lemon juice. I wish I had access to some.

Tyff

On the "YumYum.com" website, there is a recipe for orange jelly. This is the one that I have been using as a "yardstick" for making the citrus jellies from the pectin that I have been extracting from the skins of my plentiful limes at this time of year.

I have been boiling the peelings, then extracting the pectin and freezing it. When I make the jelly, I use this as my guide for making orange jelly. The orange juice mixed with the prepared pectin and sugar is then cooked to jelly stage (220 degrees).

Or could just make the recipe from scratch - but I had a lot of fruit ripening, that I didn't have time for, so wanted to find a way to preserve the pectin and juice - and freeze for later use.

I plan to use some of this frozen peel pectin to enhance the summer time fruits that I make into jams (and which are low in natural pectin themselves).

Sorry can't be more explicit, mainly because I'm still "working in the lab late at night" to perfect its use.

Igor -

er Bejay

Are they a bit mishapen, not uniformly pretty orange, thick skinned, thick pithed, very pippy and take the enamel off your teeth? If so they may be Sevilles which are the perfect marmalading orange. They are in season now and I've just had my order delivered. I make one batch in January which will last us all year.

Sour Oranges, yummy. By all means, make marmalade, I make 300 jars a year and must order my oranges cos I live in cold country. It takes a while to make really good marmalade but it is well worth the time and anyone receiving a jar will be your friend for life. Alternately, I could help gardenlad with disposal hehehe!

Marie

I think I have about 100 pounds of sour oranges. I think the first thing I'm going to try is a keylime pie recipe and later a marmalade. A friend tells me marmalade is great on baked or grilled ham or chicken. It does sound good.

Marie, what do you do with that much marmalade. I don't think I have that many friends. *s*

A key lime recipe I see is not cooked or baked. Its made simply with lime juice, creamed cheese and sweetened condensed milk. The combination with firm up once its refrigerated.

The keylime pie recipe I use is from a cruise ship. It calls for 1/2 cup of juice, 1 cup of sweetened condensed milk and 5 egg yokes. This is mixed and poured into a graham cracker crust and baked for 15 minutes at 350. The orange juice works fine. It is not as tart as the lime juice. Next time I'll add a couple of drops of red food coloring to make it look more orange and add 1 teaspoon of orange rind. New Name, "Orange Tart" I put up juice today in 4 and 8 oz jars to make about 10 pies this next year. Now I have another 1000 oranges to go. I think I'll try marmalade tomorrow.

Belindach

I sell jam in my general store so 400 jars is not so much. I can about 3000 jars a year about now, besides homemade bread, sweets, candies and pastries. I have a friend who used to make it just so she would give it away, she canned it in 16 oz jars so she got around 75 to 100 jars per case. I make it in smaller jars but I have requests for larger jars this year, seems to me that marmalade lovers need it like a drug lol. When I use it, I use it on meat or with meat, melt it and add onions, peppers and spices for a really good orange beef saute (sort of like chinese food). You can also put a spoonful in the middle of a muffin. Tartlets are also good with some marmalade in them. You are lucky to get them for free, they cost 52$ a case this year over here for about 25 lbs. 1000 oranges will give you a LOT of marmalade, I hope you are up for it.

I have a marmalade cutter, which greatly helps the slicing (slices paper thin) but I bought it off of ebay and had it sent from England. If you want, I can post the recipe, or look for a recipe that is done in three stages. First day you cut, pit, slice and mix with water. After 24 hours, you cook the mixture for about 1 hour and let steep for another 12 hours. Last, you cook in small batches, and it is done so much pulp to so much sugar. Don't have the recipe with me but I could post tomorrow, I think.

You can freeze key lime pie, as well as lemon pie and you could make lovely sour orange curd too, and freeze that for nice summer fare, maybe spooned on bread or ice cream, or even strawberries.

I might still suggest giving some away, because unless you have an outlet for all this fruit, you will never see the end of it, lots of people around here make marmalade in small batches and usually don't want a whole case of sour oranges, maybe you should ask around.

Good luck, I am getting my oranges tomorrow so I will be with you in spirit, too bad we are not neighbors...lol

Marie

Belinda,
Have you tried posting on freecycle?

Marie,
Just out of curiosity (since I only sold jams at our charity fund raiser) about how much do you charge for your jars?
Melly

Marie, I would love the recipe for marmalade. The recipe I have looks like an all day job. I'll probably give some away and try some juice combos.

Melly, I found the oranges via freecycle. I will give some to a friend but plan on juicing most of them and making orange rind.

There's always Delia. And if you go to her search bar and enter "marmalade" (sans quotes) you'll get several lovely recipes. Take a look at the "Dark Chunky." That's the one that caught my eye.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Delia's Cookery School - Seville Marmalade

Belinda, That is too funny!!
M

Sorry for the delay, here is the recipe. It was given to me by a friend, she is British would you know and makes this very good marmalade. Lots of people in my village rave about it and she is usually very generous with it.

Sue's Marmalade (sour orange marmalade)

Cut sour oranges in 4 and remove pips (save them). Slice oranges very thinly, weigh and add 6 cups of water to every pound of pulp. Soak 24 hours.

Rub preserving pan with lemon. Simmer pulp and pips (in cheesecloth bag) more or less 4 hours or until chips are tender. Turn into a basin , remove pips, let stand 12 hours.
Weigh and put a small quantity of pulp in a pot. Add 1 1/4 lb of sugar to every lb of pulp. Bring slowly to a boil, than boil rapidly til set.

Notes: This marmalade sets considerably more after a fortnight in the jars. Boil in small batches in heavy bottom pot like pressure cooker.

Can and process in BWB

We made two cases of marmalade so I cannot give you a yield, I had three huge plastique buckets of pulp in water to start with just for my bushel. The amount of sugar sounds like a lot but it is not, it remains nice and sour. It is very popular and people here buy it especially when I tell them it is Sue's recipe.

if you have any questions, just let me know.
Marie

Melly

I sell my jams for $6 to $8 Cnd dollars, for 250ml jars. Smaller jars are expensive and few people want large, except when it comes to marmalade. I used to sell for less when I did the fairs because of no overhead and the customer base is different. My customers right now can afford it. For anyone that heard of it, we have a the Parc Safari that attracts lots of tourists, as well as a golf course and lots of apple orchards, wineries, cider places and three camp grounds. I am much busier in the summer than now lol.

I wish all you guys could visit, be fun to meet all the people I talk to here.

Marie

Thanks, I'm going to start on the marmalade today.

I've never tasted a sour orange and will keep my eye out in our markets here in Northern IL. Are there any other names besides "Sour Orange" or "Seville"?

Michelle

Keep in mind that oranges, like many other fruits are seasonal. During winter months, there seems to be less varieties available compared to late spring trough early fall. Tangelos are a good orange too.

I did a search on the forum and google but found nothing on Orange Pips. What is it?

Michelle

Hi

Pips are the seeds inside the oranges. Like lemons, sour (or Seville) oranges have lots of little seeds, they are called pips in England. Sour oranges are only available for about two weeks in January, they are also scarce cos most of the market is commercial and around here, at least, you have to order them from the market. They are in now, they came in friday, so if you ask, you could probably get them right now.

Marie

Thanks Marie. I thought that pips would be the seeds.

One of two of my favorite markets will probably have the Sour Oranges. My markets are just wonderful and I am amazed at just how much they stock at any given time. I'm due for a market run tomorrow and will see if Sour Oranges are available.

Michelle

Ok, so I found this msg and website because I've got an orange tree in my front yard and it's got a bunch of super sour oranges on it... the only use I've found for them up until this point was tricking my friends into eating them and then watching their expressions. So I started looking up uses for my cache of oranges (there's a bunch!) and I found out I could make marmalade ... woo hoo! I love marmalade. So... I also read here that I could make pectin from the oranges to make other sorts of jellies and jams. How does one go about extracting the pectin from the oranges and then storing it for future use? I googled around and found some recipes for making pectin from apples but nothing specific about oranges...

Could I...
scrape the white stuff out (that's the pith, right?) retain the seeds from the fleshy part of the fruit and boil all that in a muslin bag or cheesecloth in X cups of water (how much?)...

:)

Hello Mr. Grackle,

Here's a link to our previous discussion on citrus pectin. Inside the thread you'll find the information you need.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Using and Preserving Natural Pectin