Old-Fashioned Carrot Marmalade

First, wash the citrus in very hot water to remove any wax from the outside. If possible, try to use organic citrus. Dice both the orange and lemon (rind and all) into extremely fine chunks. Remove all seeds when you see them. Place the diced fruit into a large stock pot, and then add the sugar and water. Do not heat yet.

Wash, peel, and shred the carrots (use any color you’d like). Then, add those to the pot.

Peel and finely dice the ginger. This will help brighten the flavor and remove some of the bitterness inherent to the lemon and orange peels. This is totally optional.

Put the pot on the stove top. Turn the heat on to medium, and stir to integrate the sugar with the water. Then, heat the mixture up to a full boil, and allow to cook for at least 30 minutes. Stir very often (or you can end up with a messy, hardened, candied blob). Keep an eye on the mixture. You want it to be thick and for the carrots to start looking glazed (like glass), and you don’t want a watery dish.

Once the mixture is thick (you’ll know), remove pot from the heat and set it on the counter to cool a bit.

You can preserve this marmalade by canning according to standard and approved safe canning practices. Since I don’t have canning equipment, I store mine in plastic containers, which I freeze and refrigerate.