Sunny orange jam brightens a winter day

The Christmas windstorm knocked a bunch of oranges off my Washington navel tree. 

The tree is in its down cycle this year, with less fruit than last year, so each of those 2025 oranges is precious. How to use them when they may not even be at their sweetest yet?

The answer I found was a refrigerator jam made with thyme. Not a marmalade, a jam, just thick enough, requiring only a pot and a morning's time. And plenty of oranges, of course.

Note: The recipe I adapted was found over at theminimalistbaker.com. Her oranges clearly were smaller than my backyard ones. (I also had two oranges from my farm box, and used those for the zest and juice.)

The author didn't mention anything about stripping off extra pith or the stringy bits on the inner part of the sections, so I didn't worry about it. As it turns out, those parts mostly cook down, and anything that remains can be easily fished out after the jam is thick.

Orange-thyme refrigerator jam

Makes about 3 cups

Ingredients:

Zest from 1 large or 2 medium oranges 

5 cups peeled and separated orange sections, cut in half (about 4 large oranges)

1 cup granulated sugar (I used raw cane sugar)

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

Juice from 1/2 tart lemon

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

Pinch of salt

Instructions:

Do the zest first, before peeling or juicing any of the oranges. Set it aside.

Combine the peeled orange sections, the sugar, orange juice and lemon juice in a large saucepan (preferably non-stick) over medium-high heat.

Once the mixture starts to boil, reduce heat to medium-low, stir in the salt, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.

At 30 minutes, the mixture might still look liquid-ish, but don't worry. Now is when to stir in the orange zest and the thyme leaves. Continue cooking on medium low, stirring often. About at the 45-minute point, the mixture will seem thicker, and definitely will be by the 1-hour point. Turn off the heat and allow the jam to cool -- it will thicken more as it cools.

If you see any random orange "strings" or pithy clumps left in the jam, now is the time to remove them, if desired.

Spoon the jam into clean glass jars and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use. Use any refrigerated jam within a couple weeks. Frozen jam (in freezer-safe containers) should keep for a month or so.