I have been fiddling with my sourdough pancake recipe lately, it needed a boost of flavor and texture.  It was pretty good before, but I really wanted something fluffy, filling and chewier, and think I have finally found it.  Also we have been playing “Little House in the Big Woods” lately, gathering and harvesting, then preserving and canning, for delish results.

On a side note, should you ever be in Fla and purchase jars of jelly, ignore them when they tell you it will pass through the airline security checks, it is still considered a liquid ,no matter how jelled it is(and yes we tried, the ladies in the shop told us it would be fine, their signs all said it would be fine!!!grrrr, they lied!!)

So, my dad had purchased some orange marmalade, after much taste testing and difficult deliberation he had settled on a yummy honeybell marmalade, sweet and a bit tart, with tang and chewy rind bits, very tasty!  Well, he lost it, and I felt obligated to try to recreate that lost goodness.  I have never been fond of marmalade, but had to try, so off I went, down the google rabbit hole searching for recipes, and found dozens of likely candidates.  I narrowed the field to a few, based mostly on the fact that I did not want to pour pounds of sugar into the pot, and only had clementines and minneolas to create this goodness from.  Side note again, do people seriously use that much sugar to make jelly and marmalade, gahhhh, it must be more like fruit syrup than any fruit jam.

So, the recipe I ended up basing my own on is found here, at Wylde Thyme, her recipe is very lovely, and has the best set of picture instructions I found, plus she gave directions on how to make it without pectin, which I will definitely try next time!

Minneola and Clementine Marmalade

1 large minneola(temple) orange

3 clementines

1 lemon

1 box low sugar pectin

1 1/2 cup water

1 cup sugar

 

Hardest part of marmalade, and really one of the most important, peel the oranges, lemon and clementines, and remove all of the white pith from the inside.  The girls figured out if you lay the peel flat, and gently scrape the blade of a butter knife across the white part it will come off pretty quickly.  Once all of the peels have been cleaned, finely chop the peels into slivers and place in a large measuring cup.

Remove any white skin from the fruit, and chop well, removing any seeds carefully.  place the chopped fruit, and any juice from the cutting board, into the measuring cup with the skins.

You should end up with about 2 cups of fruit and peels, pour into a large pot.  Pour in the water and the cup of sugar( I found most recipes called for too much sugar, and the clementines are super sweet anyway.  Heat the fruit and water mix, add the pectin, and now, watch it boil.  It needs to boil to the jelly point, if you have a candy thermometer this is easy, but otherwise try this method.  Place a spoon in the freezer, once the jelly has boiled for a while gently spoon up a bit with the chilled spoon.  Pour it back off, and if the jelly left in the bowl skins up once cool it is ready, if not,and it is still drippy and thin, boil more.

Once done follow the instructions at Ball for safe canning, or, if you are like us, place in jars, chill, and then eat, eat, eat some more:-)  This recipe is tangy and zesty, full of chunky bits and rich color, with just a bit of bite from the lemon, in a word, delicious!!

 

Sourdough Pancakes with flax and oatmeal

1 cup sourdough liquid

1 egg

3 tbsp coconut oil

2 tbsp flax seeds(ground up well)

1/2 c whole oats(ground well)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp sugar

 

Blend all ingredients well, the oatmeal will thicken the pancake mix, giving it a nice chewier texture.  These pancakes have to cook for longer than your average pancakes, fully cook them until they are set in the middle, then flip.

We enjoyed these with dollops of marmalade and butter, yummy and filling.  A summer delight, full of tang and summer sunshine, in my mouth, I may just be a marmalade convert!!