What am I going to do with all of this stuff???--Quick Red Onion Marmalade

Quick Red Onion Marmalade
Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving Copyright 2006

1 ½ cups thinly sliced halved red onion
½ cup finely chopped dried cranberries
¼ cup lightly packed brown sugar
¼ cup cider vinegar
2 tsp grated orange zest
3 cups unsweetened apple juice
1 package (1.75 oz) regular powdered fruit pectin
4 cups granulated sugar

1. Prepare canner, jars and lids.
2. In a skillet, over medium heat, combine red onion, cranberries, brown sugar and vinegar. Cook, stirring, until onion is transparent, about 10 minutes.
3. In a large, deep stainless steel saucepan, combine cooked onion mixture, orange zest and apple juice. Whisk in pectin until dissolved. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently. Add sugar all at once and return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil hard, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim off foam.
4. Ladle hot marmalade into hot jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot marmalade. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.
5. Place jars in canner, ensuring that they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 15 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

Makes about 5 8-oz. jars
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It was after I made this that I realized I needed to stop canning stuff since I had absolutely no idea what to do with this. I ended up using it with pork. I make medallions out of a tenderloin, seasoned them with salt and pepper, browned them, and removed them from the pan. I made a sauce/glaze out of this marmalade, some white wine, some white wine vinegar and salt and pepper. I added back the pork and pan juices. It was actually really good. I would make this again, although I have a few jars of this stuff, I need to think of other things to do with it. It's not quite 'gift' material since if I can't think of what to do with it, what will the recipient do with it?

I have enjoyed canning but there's a learning process, just like with everything else. It's just that every time you try a canning recipe, you're left with at least a few jars of whatever it is you've canned. That makes it a slower process (unless you don't mind buying a lot of jars and you have a lot of shelf space) but I'm glad I finally got started after just thinking about it for a long time.

Blast From The Past: Carmelized Onion Chicken from January 2007. I thought the pork and red onion marmalade I made tasted similar to that recipe so I could probably try it with chicken.

Question of the Day: What cooking-related challenge have you been putting off?