I just love to preserve citrus-y things.

Hence this recipe for preserved winter oranges, complete with plenty of spice.
Lovely with chicken, fish, cocktails or couscous…

Preserved & Spiced Winter Oranges

You will need:

5-6 oranges
A jar with a tight-fitting lid (well-cleaned – ideally boiled or run through a dishwasher)
A small handful each of whole cloves and cinnamon bark
Salt
Sugar
Splash of lemon juice

The first thing you’ll want to do is to blanch the oranges: plunge them into boiling water for about a minute and then pop them into cool water right away. This will release some wonderful orange aromas into your kitchen and remind you why it is that you’re taking the trouble to do all this. This is important, because the oranges take about a month to preserve, so this recipe is mostly a process of delayed gratification.

The next thing is to nearly-quarter (see figure above) each orange, and then to place in each a small spoonful of salt and a small spoonful of sugar (I slid in one in each cut).

Finally, take your jar and start to pack in the oranges, remembering to throw in bits of cloves and cinnamon after each layer. You’ll want to really press them down to fit as many in the jar as possible – and to make sure they’re swimming in their own juice. Once you fill it up, top off with water and a bit of lemon juice and shut. Over the next several days, you will want to turn the jar over a few times, mush the oranges down again, and top off with water if necessary.

They should be ready to eat in about a month.