Tangerine Marmalade

I have a beautiful tangerine tree in the back yard. Every year, I think, "oh, I should really do something interesting with all that fruit". then I make a few Tangerine Martinis to get started and promptly forget to make anything else.  Now, I can drink my share of martinis, but even so, there is a lot of fruit that goes to waste on the tree.

So, I decided this year I should really make an attempt to take advantage of the bounty.
Tangerine Marmalade seemed a good choice since it uses a fair bit of fruit, and I've never made marmalade or preserves of any kind, so it was an adventure too.  Now, being adventurous, but not stupid, I promptly called my brilliant sister in law (who has made jam and such before) and sweet talked her into jumping on board with the project. All I had to do was show up with my bag o' tangerines and R had everything else ready to go.

We used Alton Brown's Orange Marmalade Recipe which seemed not only the simplest of the ones we looked at, but also the "purest" as far as using only whole, simple ingredients. (don't know that I can use the term "healthy" since it's almost all sugar!)
You can read Alton's recipe and instructions using the link above. This is how we did it.

Prep:
R ran jars, lids and rings through the dishwasher, and put her ginormous stockpot fitted with a bottom rack and filled halfway with water on the stove to start to boil.
Scrub 1 and 3/4 pounds of tangerines (give or take a few ounces, I'm not the most precise cook...)

To  make the marmalade, slice the tangerines with a mandolin (Alton says to then cut the slices in quarters, but  the tangerines were so juicy and falling apart we didn't).

Throw the tangerines in a big pot with the zest and juice of 1 lemon, 3 cups tangerine juice (juiced from more tangerines) and 3 cups water, boil and then simmer until the fruit is very soft, about 40 minutes. I used a stick blender at this point to break up the rinds a little bit since we didn't cut the slices in quarters.

Add 3 pounds plus 12 ounces sugar. Return to a boil and stir continually until the mixture reaches 222 degrees and a small dollop placed on a frozen plate becomes a soft gel after 30 seconds. This stage felt like it took waaaay longer than I expected. Like, it took forever. I could feel the mixture get thicker as I was stirring right before it was ready, it will also get darker.

Anyway, when it's finally ready, spoon it into the jars, wipe the rims, top with the lids and screw on the rings. Put the jars in the pot of boiling water and make sure they are covered by at least on inch of water. Boil for 10 minutes then remove with canning tongs. Let them sit at room temperature for at least 24 hours before opening. Unopened jars will last up to 6 months. Store opened jars in refrigerator.

Now, I just have to figure out how to eat 8 jars of marmalade. I think I'll start with homemade scones and Tangerine Martinis.