Monday, May 30, 2011

#294 Preserved Orange Slices (part 1)

These oranges are flavoured with a heady mix of cinnamon, mace and cloves; quite a wintery combination, I suppose. In Victorian times, the orange was the most prized Christmas gift and British children would have waited with baited breath to get their hands on them. This did not apply to Irish children though – a little earlier in history, William of Orange's extreme anti-Catholic laws were so unpopular that the Irish people made a declaration that no orange tree would ever be planted in Irish soil.
William III of Orange (aka 'King Billy' by Irish Protestants)

In Europe, the best oranges have always come from Spain, and so it is no surprise that the first orange plantation in America was also Spanish. It was, of course, in Florida and it was built in 1579. After a few years of settlement, orange trees were discovered all over the forests, causing the surprised Spanish settlers to conclude that the orange must have been native to America! It turned out to not be the case – Native Americans had been stealing oranges and spitting the pips as they ate them.

I had been planning on doing these preserved oranges for a while as they are an accompaniment to pork and duck, my two new favourite meats, thanks to recent recipes here in the blog. I’ve only just gotten round to making them because a spice required for the recipe is mace – in the form of blades. Tricky, as supermarkets don’t stock them. However, now I have a car I could pop to The Heights area of Houston and visit Penzey’s spices. What a great shop! Every spice and spice blend you could ever need. Luckily, there is a store in St Louis, so I can keep myself stocked up when I move there. My favourite bit was Granny’s Kitchen which had all the baking spices.

Anyway, enough waffle. Here’s the recipe...

Begin by slicing 10 large oranges – keep them thick, about a centimetre is good – place them in a large pan and cover them with water.
Bring to a boil, cover and simmer gently for 30 to 40 minutes until the peel has softened. Don’t stir the oranges around as they will break up. Meanwhile, in another pan, dissolve 2 ½ pounds of granulated sugar in a pint of white wine vinegar. Add 1 ½ sticks cinnamon, a heaped teaspoon of cloves and 6 blades of mace to the vinegar syrup and boil for a total of 3 or 4 minutes.
When the oranges are done, drain them, reserving the orange liquor. Return the oranges to their pan and pour over the syrup to cover – if there isn’t enough, use some of the orange liquor. Cover, bring to simmering point and cook gently for a further 25 to 30 minutes.
Take off the heat and leave for 24 hours. Next day, pot in sterilised jars. Top up with syrup over the next or two, should they need to be. Here’s the catch though folks: you now have to leave them for at least 6 weeks to mature! When the time is up, they can be served with hot or cold pork, ham or duck. The syrup also makes a good sauce for duck too. Apparently.

#294 Preserved Orange Slices. Well we shall have to have a bit of patience over these. It’s strange to think that when they are ready, I’ll be living in St Louis. I can say that the syrup is delicious though. Look here for the results.

6 comments:

  1. These look outstandingly good. It appears you used Valencia oranges instead of Navel or Navelinas. I suppose the Seville oranges I can get here in France will do. I wonder what these would be like with blood oranges? Or using whole Kumquats?

    Thanks for the post, you've got me thinking!

    Kind regards, Kitty

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  2. I'm not actually sure of the type of orange I used here. They were just your typical seedless sweet oranges. Not sure Seville would turn out, they would probably be too bitter, non? Kumquats could be very interesring though...

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  3. Non Neil - wonderful made with Sevilles but the seasonality means you can't make them to eat at Christmas - or at least not in our house. Not a chance of keeping the fingers off for most of a year. So I use whatever is around now. Blood oranges are too sweet in my experience but one could play around with the sugar/vinegar balance. Would be very pretty with red wine vinegar. Again blood oranges come too early in the year for Christmas eating - with a really good free range turkey spiced oranges are much better than cranberry sauce to my mind.

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  4. I really was surprised how nicw this one turned out. When I finally get through my stock, I'll try again with Sevilles - should I see any, that is!

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  5. thank you for recipe.I did the same recipe.My syrup a little darker, than on your pictures. But it is delicious.will see after 6 weeks
    Can i use this orange for cake>
    Thank you



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    1. Hi Dalia. I'm sure darker means more delicious. It'd be great for cake I think..Maybe a drizzle cake with all that syrup..?

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