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Honey Sweetened Orange Marmalade
We are closing in on three years of living in Southern California and I can tell you with so much confidence that the novelty hasn’t worn off, I don’t take a single day here for granted and I feel like I am exactly where I was always destined to be. This place is truly magical. While hailing from Buffalo, I had a little bit of snow-day envy as the blizzard made it’s way across the east coast this weekend, walking outside in a t-shirt to your very own orange tree – that is certainly not lost on me. Not one bit.
We got so very lucky that the house we ended up in, here in Long Beach, has a beautiful yard, complete with an abundant orange tree, grape vines, the biggest fig tree you ever did see, an avocado tree and so many other amazing fruit trees. I have been learning to get creative with everything we have been so graciously gifted from this land, but despite the constant creations I still have so many oranges that need to get eaten. So, this marmalade was created and even more excitingly this week I purchased a canning kit, to *finally* learn to preserve. It gets here in just a few days and I plan to make lots more of this marmalade to enjoy throughout the year. In the fall I certainly plan to preserve my Fig Honey Jam and some grape jam, too.
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Fig Honey Jam – Gluten-free + Refined Sugar-Free
If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, it is likely that you have seen how figs are overtaking my life right now. Our huge black mission fig tree is producing so much fruit. I love it. I have been getting quite creative with the figs; making pizzas, muffins, cakes, smoothies, adding them to salads and more. Fig season begins as early as June in some areas and it can run as late as October. My tree didn’t really start producing until mid August, but given how much small unripe fruit is on there, I have a feeling that I am going to have figs for quite some time. Yay!
Figs are quite perishable so I have been doing everything I can to use them up as quickly as I can. Stored at room temperature fresh figs keep for about for 1-2 days or 2-3 days in the fridge. Besides what I have been using in recipes, I have been freezing them whole and even dehydrating some so I can enjoy them in the off season, still. Look for lots of fig recipes over the next few weeks, I am loving having so many to play with.
Besides being delicious and so beautiful, figs are a wonderful source of calcium and dietary fiber. Figs have the highest amount of calcium of any fruit. Just 1 cup of figs has as much calcium as a cup of milk. Figs are also a good source of iron, magnesium, potassium, B vitamins, as well as vitamin K. Read the rest of this entry »
