Oranges preserved in brandy

Back in December, Mike and Penny gave us a lovely little orange tree as a Christmas present. I wasn’t sure how it’d fare, but it’s been happily photosynthesizing and making oranges ever since.

Orange tree

In fact, it had gotten to the point where the poor thing seemed a little overburdened by its crop, listing decidedly to one side.

Bethan suggested preserving them, so we’re attempting to make oranges preserved in brandy.

Oranges

I picked the oranges, then boiled them in a sugar syrup for an hour. It was at about the 40 minute mark, confident that everything was going fine, that I turned my back for a moment and the whole thing boiled over a bit.⊕I’d make an observation here about how sugar syrup is the worst thing to have to clean off your stove, except I once let a big pot of wort boil over, so I know better! I cleaned up the mess while it cooled, poured in a generous splash of brandy, and sealed the whole thing up in a sterilized jar.

Ask us in about ten days and we’ll tell you how it turned out!