Thelife- Michelin-starred chef
Massimo Bottura is an advocate for minimizingfood waste. - In one of his Kitchen Quarantine videos, he mentioned an orange "marmellata" (Italian for marmalade) he made with rinds he would have otherwise thrown away.
- Marmalade is similar to jam except that it's a citrus-based preserve that uses the entire citrus fruit — including the peel.
- I made two different marmalade batches in the name of reducing my own food waste and I'm adding the simple recipe to my arsenal.
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Growing up, food waste wasn't something I heard people talk about from an environmental perspective. I've been cooking and going food shopping my entire life, and now those activities are a large part of my job.
After listening to Michelin-starred chef Massimo Bottura speak at the 2019 New York Times Food Festival about his passion for minimizing food waste, I realized I could be doing a lot better myself. It's become something I think about almost obsessively now. Tossing any piece of food makes me cringe.
So, when I saw Bottura reference an orange-peel marmalade on an episode of his Instagram Live series, Kitchen Quarantine, I was intrigued. He made a sweet dessert topping out of something he would have otherwise thrown away.
My family has been going through loads of clementines since quarantining at home and, after seeing them pile up, I got inspired to make marmalade myself
My bloated confidence in the kitchen — which sometimes leads to flavor disasters, but, hey, you can't win 'em all — led me to believe I could make "marmellata" like the Italian culinary legend.
Turns out, I can — and so can you
Inspired by the flavors in a peach and ginger jam I bought at a farmers market in the fall, I used oranges, clementines, and ginger root in my first marmalade batch.
I sliced the clementine peels (which I made sure my family didn't toss throughout the week) into thin sticks. I cut the oranges a bit thicker and into quarter-disc strips. Using a spoon, I peeled my ginger root and diced that.
I slid all of the ingredients into a small pot and filled it with enough water to just cover it all. I added a splash of lemon juice just because. Turning on the gas, I brought that beautiful orange concoction to a rolling boil and then to a simmer.
Using a spoon, I checked in on the orange peels. Once they got soft enough to cut with the spoon, I brought the heat back up to around medium-high and added some large spoonfuls of sugar. I started with around half a cup but added more as needed.
Aiming for the right consistency, I stirred, added sugar, stirred again, then added a little water.
Eventually, my spoon came out of the pot with the liquid sort of stuck to it rather than dripping off. I knew that meant it was finally jammy, so I turned off the gas and swiped my finger against the spoon to give the stuff a taste.
On first try, it was a little more bitter than I thought it would be, but after it sat overnight in the refrigerator, the flavors mellowed and it became sweet and fragrant. The second batch I made came out sweeter from the start as I cooked it for less time and didn't go back and forth with the sugar and water as much.
Making marmellata is easier than it sounds and lasts a while
Making your own marmalade may seem a bit daunting, but it's not. I promise! It's just three simple steps: cut, soften, and stir in sugar.
My first batch lasted a little more than a week, but only because that's how quickly I finished the jar. There are no chemical preservatives in the recipe — a by-product of making things yourself at home — but the sugar and water mixture preserves the citrus naturally. We'll see how long this second batch lasts.
Now, we save citrus rinds in the refrigerator until there are enough to make a batch of improv marmellata.
After squeezing limes to make margaritas, we had almost a dozen that would have gone into the garbage. Instead of throwing them out, I made a spicy margarita-inspired marmalade with salt and cayenne pepper.
I've eaten the orange and yellow concoction on toast with peanut butter and in a bowl of oatmeal. It could also be heated and used to top a slice of cake for dessert. I think the sweet and salty marg flavor would best be used heated and plopped onto a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or on top of a blackberry pie.
This is just one small step I've taken toward becoming less wasteful in the kitchen, but it's definitely a recipe I plan on playing with more in the future. Maybe a grapefruit preserve or a summertime lavender lemonade flavor is in my future — the possibilities are endless!
- Read more:
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- I always cook with a 'garbage bowl' to save time, mess, and stress. Here's why you need one in your kitchen.
- Here's why I always cut berries before adding them to my pancakes
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