Cranberry-Orange Marmalade

 Day 49: I took a fit of domesticity today, stopping at the grocery store on my way home from town to pick up the fruit for my all-time favorite preserve, cranberry-orange marmalade. A friend had given me her canning supplies earlier in the summer when I complained of not being able to fit nine half-pint jars into my small kettle easily, donating to my kitchen several boxes of jars in various sizes, lids and rings, and assorted equipment. My intentions had been good when I accepted the gift; I'd already made one batch of blackberry jam and was planning to do another, but life got in the way, and the rains fell and ruined the berries. I felt guilty every time I saw Jean's granite cookware sitting in the corner. Briefly, I toyed with the idea of pear-tomato chutney, but pears were prohibitively expensive and I had "dinosaur chutney" ("Abdul's Brigadiere chutney") on the shelf. I don't eat much meat. It takes a while to go through a batch of chutney.

A couple of weeks ago, I started thinking about cranberry-orange marmalade, my mouth watering at the mere idea: thin slivers of orange peel and lemon rind in a sweet-tart base, whole cranberries giving texture and color to the jam. Mmmmmmm! Delicious on English muffins, the marmalade also goes well on homemade bread, particularly those made with nutty-flavoured specialty flours. It is utterly scrumptious on "birdseed bread," my daily staple which is made in part with millet flour. Are you drooling yet? Come on over for breakfast!