Marmalades and Sauces

Yesterday was a wonderful day, to that matter any day spent in the kitchen is a wonderful day. Canning was heavily on my mind and the oranges were piled high in the sink.

  One of my favorite parts of making any Marmalade is making the " Zest". Zest is the peel of the citrus, finely chopped and then cooked, drained, and placed back into the Marmalade. I always try to drain my cooked " Zest" and save the reserve liquid to put back into the Marmalade as I'm cooking because it is loaded with natural pectin. The best method i have found is to use a food processor for the chopping as it makes nice uniform pieces that cook very evenly. Here's a picture of my " Zest".
  Well as things happen in the kitchen more things seem to develop and next thing i know time is flying by. As i was working on my Marmalade, thumbing thru the cookbook a piece of paper fell out. Now this is my grandmothers cookbook, Momma Cora...well as i was reading this it was lingering in my mind, my goodness i can't remember her making this..Momma Cora's Seafood Sauce. Well it called for a nice citrus base and what the heck i'm up to my elbows with oranges, might as well make this too.
  WOW is one of the words that sort of fell out of my mouth as i tasted this wonderful new product, now not only have i recreated her famous " Sunshine in a jar" Marmalade, I have made a wonderful Seafood sauce. Another day's topic will be the uses of citrus based Seafood Sauce.
  A little more about " Zest", i have noticed a lot of folks saying..well why do you call that peach MmmMarmalade , Zesty Peach Cocktail MmmMarmalade, because it has lots of " Zest ", not only in the wonderful blend of peaches, pineapples,and maraschino cherries but also the much needed requirement for Marmalade which is " Zest".
  When i'm finishing up in the kitchen and if i have a little " Zest " left over , I like to put it into a saucepan, add a cup of brown sugar, a little of the reserve liquid and boil it. Next i lay it out evenly on a shallow pan, let the liquid drain, and then bake it for about 30 minutes at 250, it makes wonderful " Zesty Candy" which is great to spoon on buttered toast or eat right out of the pan.
  Until tomorrow, remember What " Can" you do..