Do you like orange marmalade? the bitter-sweet tangy kind with real pieces of orange peel in it? So do I.  Sooo good on a fresh slice of bread, even better if you sneak in some butter.

How about sugar? lots of industrial, processed, white sugar? do you like that? oh, and some Fructose (another name for sugar)? how about  vegetable Gum? do you like THAT (what is that anyway?) in your marmalade? and fruit acid? Or mineral salt?  want some of that? I didn’t think so. Neither do I. Unfortunately, that’s what you are going to get in that marmalade jar you bought in the supermarket. If you are the obsessive kind (like yours truly) that actually reads and compares food labels, you know impossible it is to find a jar of marmalade that contains enough FRUIT. In most cases the first ingredient on the list will be sugar, followed by some kind of preservative. Fruits are often third or fourth on the list. Yikes.

This is where this recipe comes in to solve all your fructose anxieties. It contains none. Vegetable Gum neither. It contains nothing but oranges and brown sugar. It also takes about 15 minutes to make. IN THE MICROWAVE.

This recipe yields no more than a cup, a cup and a half of marmalade. It’s great loaded into these small glass jars you kept for whatever reason and handed as a hostess gift (your mother-in-law will be impressed), or as a pick me up for a good friend feeling under the weather.

Quicky Microwave Orange Marmalade

You will need: (for a small jar. Double the recipe as needed and adjust your cooking time accordingly)

2 large oranges (you will end up with roughly 2 cups of fruit pieces)
1 cup of natural brown sugar
1 microwave safe glass bowl
1 microwave
15 minutes

Process:

1. Scrub your oranges clean with soap and water.
2. With a good vegetable peeler or a sharp knife, peel off the ORANGE colored rind of the oranges. No white bits please.
3. Pile rind slices on cutting board and finely chop. Place in glass bowl.
4. With your very sharp knife, cut the white peel of the orange, moving carefully down the curve of the fruit until you see only she shiny orange flesh.
5. Holding the orange in one hand, wedge your blade between the membranes connecting the orange segments (you will see the lines quite easily) and slice out only the orange’s fleshy segments.
6. If desired, roughly chop segments (or leave them whole) and place in the bowl with the rinds and sugar. With your hand, squeeze what’s left of the orange’s juice into the bowl. Mix thoroughly.
7. Microwave for about 10 minutes, stopping every so often to stir the marmalade. The cooking time will vary from microwave to another, so try not to overcook yours. When ready, it might still look runny!

The marmalade will be ready once the juices thicken up a bit. It is easy to check doneness when dropping a few drops of the hot liquid on a cold (fridge cold) plate. It should thicken up almost immediately and not drop off the plate when held upside-down. Place marmalade in a clean, dry glass jar. I refrigerate mine, but it doesn’t last long anyway. Enjoy!