Orange you glad...

I'm back, with another canning adventure! 

This is the first year that I have canned my own mandarin oranges. 

I went shopping At the local Aldi and the mandarins were half price. I got 24lbs of mandarins for $20! 

Ellie and Steve LOVE oranges, but often times buying a large bag of them means that one or two (or more) end up going bad. Also they are not usually such a good price. So obviously the solution was to can them.

 

 

Thank Goodness my husband helped me peal all of these oranges. We we able to get all of them pealed in about 1.5 hours, and since they are mandarins, they pealed pretty easily. 

Typically I soak the orange peals in vinegar to make a home made cleaner, but I already had some, so these went to the compost. I have also made candied orange peals in the past, but this project was labor intensive enough that I didn't feel like taking that on.

 

Once all the oranges were pealed, we separated them and soaked them in a mixture of 1 gallon water and 1 tsp Pectin-x, - an enzyme that breaks down the pectin in the pith of the oranges. 

I let the oranges soak overnight - about 24 hours. I rinsed them a couple of times and strained all of the water off. 

They look so amazing!!! And they taste so good.

I could not keep the oranges in the jars, my family kept sneaking them as I was prepping the syrup.

The light syrup is a mixture of 12cups water and 3 cups sugar. Typically, I try to use honey, but I was out and had to make due with what I had. Just another reason I need my own bees... Anyway, once the jars are full of oranges, add the syrup to the jars and leave 1/2 inch head space. Wipe your rims, add your lids finger tight and then water bath can for 10 minutes. 

The finished product looks STUNNING!