If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, then you know I had a Strawberry Jam Canning Party a few weeks ago. Since then I've canned Corn Relish and today I canned Orange-Pineapple-Carrot Marmalade. In the next few weeks I'm planning on making Peach Butter. A fellow foodie from Honey, The Water's On Fire, just finished canning Dill Pickles. This canning stuff is awesome!

When I was looking up stuff on canning, I came across something that talked about why people can. Back when more people grew their own gardens, you could tell how someone's winter was going to go by how much stuff they were able to can. So, what's a girl to do in this day and time? Well, you try to grow a few things. You get to know people that do have gardens. You buy fruits and vegetables when they're in abundance and on sale. And you learn how to can. Of course, you're not going to sustain your family for the winter on jars of jams and jellies, but they are a good place to start when you're learning to can. Not to mention, they also will make really good presents and now is the time to start making them!

I found the recipe for Orange-Pineapple-Carrot Marmalade in the Ball Blue Book of Preserving. There are tons of recipes in there for different things that I'd like to try to make! But, for the marmalade, all I needed was:

1 Pineapple
3 Oranges
2 Lemons
3 Carrots

I also needed:

Allspice
Nutmeg
1 pouch of Liquid Pectin

First, I peeled the lemons. To do this, I took a sharp paring knife and cut just through the skin all the way around the lemon and then made another cut all the way around so that the skin was divided into four sections. I cut the lemon peels into strips so this really helped to get it off in nice big sections.

The orange peels weren't going to be used, so I just peeled them off and then chopped up the orange pulp.


I peeled the carrots and then shredded them. I wasn't sure how many I would need, but it turned out I only needed three.

Then came the pineapple. Let me just start by saying fresh pineapple smells great and tastes great, but for the trouble and the price, I think next time I'll just use a can of it. I needed crushed pineapple and I ended up with pineapple puree, but I still used it anyway. So, I'm skipping the pictures of the pineapple cutting and crushing process because that part didn't come out quite right.

So, lets just skip to the part where I mix it all together!


To the lemon juice, lemon peels, orange pulp, carrots and pineapple, I added sugar, allspice and nutmeg and stirred it all together.

I turned the burner on medium-high heat and let it come to a boil. Once it started boiling I added the liquid pectin.


Then I let it come to a rolling boil and stirred it while it boiled for a minute, turned off the heat and stirred it slowly for two more minutes.


Since I had already washed my jars, lids and bands, I just rinsed them again with really hot water to get them ready to add the marmalade.


I ladled the marmalade in the jars and filled them up all the way to the top screw line.


Next I put the lids and bands on the jars and put 2 of the jars in my canning basket and put it in the stockpot of boiling water. I put the lid on the stockpot and let it boil for 10 minutes.


Once the time was up, I lifted the canning basket out and put the jars on a towel and did the next batch. Now the jars are sitting on the counter and will be ready to store in 12 hours. Wasn't that easy!


It looks so yummy! I can't wait to try it!