Orange Marmalade

One thing cool about living in Florida is having my very own citrus tree in the yard. The lawn guy said it was an orange tree. My neighbor said he thought it was a lemon tree because of the thorns. Eventually I determined it was a bitter orange tree.

It was absolutely laden with ripe and juicy fruit, But FULL of zillions of pits. And the juice is, well, bitter. I guess that's why they are bitter oranges. One thing said about bitter oranges is that they are:

prized for making marmalade, being higher in pectin than the sweet orange

So with so many fruit dropping to the group I decided I HAD to try to make marmalade. Above are the peels of the oranges simmering in sugar water.  I have to say that making marmalade is a very MESSY process. What a wreck it made of my kitchen. But I persevered and made two batches.

And I must say they are beautiful! And taste good. And made from my very own fruit plucked off the tree. Good thing I only have one tree though. Even as it is about 90% of the oranges are just rotting. What a shame. But I don't know what to do with them all. I'd love to have an avocado tree too though. :-)