Homemade Orange Marmalade

 This marmalade is for Paddington, in case he decides to visit. I get a big kick out of food that gains popularity because of a movie. That happened with the Hunger Games and lamb stew with dried plums, and I am still getting visits to that movie inspired post.

I’ll be quite honest. I have never once thought of making orange marmalade. It’s a preserve made with the pulp and rind of citrus and hasn’t been as popular as the peach and blackberry jams around here. The movie, Paddington, changed all that, because marmalade sandwiches were to Paddington was honey is to Winnie the Pooh. This led to Ryder begging me to made orange marmalade, and finding a recipe.  I didn’t create this.  I didn’t even know where to start. When I saw a recipe from Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, it seemed approachable and easy enough to tackle, all fruit, no pectin. I saw one recipe that was famous, but way too complicated for me.

The process was fun. Slicing oranges and lemons is an aromatherapy delight. I also found this interesting post on the perfect temperature time that you should take a look at. The resulting consensus is that the marmalade is perfect once it gets to about 220 degrees, but a little runny before that and the oranges too chewy when cooked beyond that.

The result, aside from being quite beautiful, was exactly what I thought an orange marmalade should be, syrupy and sweet, but in a good way. This led to a cinnamon orange biscuit that I can’t wait to share with you. Or, of course, these fluffy Southern biscuits.

So tell me do you get inspired to cook from movies? Have you ever had marmalade? If you have a great recipe, I’d love to know about it.