Fresh Summer peaches are combined with ripe oranges, dried cranberries and walnuts, and seasoned with cinnamon and cloves. This marmalade doesn’t use pectin…just fruit, spices, nuts and dried cranberries that thicken to the perfect consistency when simmered on the stove. Spread this marmalade on an English muffin, a warm biscuit or my absolute favorite…as a topping for vanilla ice cream. This flavor is so unique and delicious that Orange Peach Marmalade is sure to become your favorite way to preserve Summer in a mason jar.
Big spice flavor thanks to a cheesecloth.
In case you’ve never used one, a cheesecloth is a piece of fabric used to strain a variety of ingredients in the kitchen. My favorite use is creating a bundle of fresh spices to give soups, jams and broth big flavor. The cloth allows the flavor and aroma to seep out, but it keeps the actual spices in the cloth. Once your recipe is finished cooking, you simply pull out the cheesecloth bundle instead fishing for your spices to remove them before serving. In this Orange Peach Marmalade recipe, we wrap cinnamon sticks and cloves into a cheesecloth bundle, tie it with a piece of kitchen twine and simmer it in our fruit mixture. The result is cinnamon-clove perfection.
Canning isn’t my jam.
I love to make jam and I’ve tried canning quite a few times. I’m not giving up, but at this point I’d say…canning isn’t my jam. I fumble over the details of the process and will usually end up freezing a few jars because I’m not 100% sure if they’re sealed properly. The good news is that jam can be stored in the freezer up to 3 months. So if canning isn’t your jam either, keep those canners tucked away under the counter and try this instead.
- Once the Orange Peach Marmalade has cooked, allow it to cool on the counter until it reaches room temperature.
- Package the marmalade into mason jars or freezer safe plastic containers with lids. Be Sure to leave an inch of space at the top of the jar or plastic container to allow it to expand once it’s frozen.
- Secure the lid and freeze for up to 3 months.
If canning is your jam and you’d like to package these jars using a dried orange and a few cinnamon sticks, and give them to neighbors, teachers and friends…I’ll refer you to Martha’s canning guide. Martha Stewart’s step-by-step guide is an excellent resource for the in’s and out’s of the process.
Orange Peach Marmalade
Ingredients
- 3 cups ripe peaches pitted, washed and chopped (you don't need to peel them)
- 2 oranges (include the rind of one of the oranges) sliced to fit in the food processor
- 3 ½ cups sugar
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup walnut pieces
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 6-8 whole cloves
Instructions
- Add the peaches and the oranges into the food processor and process until the orange rind is ground into small pieces.
- Create a cheesecloth spice bundle by placing the cinnamon sticks and the cloves into a cheesecloth. Tie it shut with kitchen twine.
- Place the fruit, sugar, dried cranberries, walnuts and spice bundle into a large pot.. Hang the side of the kitchen twine over the side of the pan so that you can easily retrieve it once the marmalade is finished cooking.
- Bring the marmalade to a boil and reduce to medium heat. This recipe does not use pectin so we'll need to give it time to thicken. Simmer on a low boil while stirring occasionally, for approximately 20-25 minutes or until the marmalade begins to thicken. Set the marmalade on the counter to cool completely before placing it in the refrigerator, freezing or canning the marmalade.
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