Recipe: Trifoliate Orange Jelly

 

We live in an historic area in New England, surrounded by very large houses on grassy greens and several open and public spaces that were once private property. In Victorian times, it was trendy for the more prosperous families to keep gardens of exotic plants from around the world, unfortunately introducing many non-native invasive plants and some pests. Trifoliate orange is native to Korea and China, and is also known as the hardy orange, karatachi, or the flying dragon fruit. One property is local to us, where an old estate was donated to a non-profit and part of the grounds are now a public park. Here we found some trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata) fruiting, along with another population at a local state park in southeastern Connecticut.

This deciduous shrub bears leaves with three leaflets and very tough thorns that can be around an inch long--making this shrub good for impenetrable hedges! The trifoliate orange blooms in late spring and is an amazing citrus that can survive here through USDA zone 6. The fruits are smaller than a typical orange or even tangerine, only about the size of a ping pong ball, and are lightly fuzzy on the outer rind. The fruits ripen to a nice orange color, but are very firm. When the thick, tough skin is sliced open, there are many seeds and the fruit is too bitter to eat raw due to a high poncirin content. We tried making a marmalade many years ago, but it was too bitter to consume.

 

This year, 2024, was a very dry summer and the trifoliate oranges near us fruited prolifically! We decided to collect them as native wildlife does not appear to consume the fruit, and experiment with this flavor. The downy fruit has a lovely floral/citrus scent just held in your hand, and rubbing the skin releases it further. Once the peel seeds, and pith is removed, the juice is incredibly sour but with a hint of grapefruit. 

 

We were able to work with the juice and pulp of the trifoliate orange in several preparations, including this jelly. We also made a sugar-based syrup to add to seltzers for soda, a liqueur with grain alcohol and syrup-aged for mellowness, and a trifoliate orange curd filling for a yule log made from the strained juice.

 

Trifoliate Orange Jelly       makes about 8c. jelly

3 1/2 c. trifoliate orange juice, pulp and seeds removed by passing through a strainer

1 box Sure-Jell regular pectin

4 1/2 c. sugar

1. Cut the oranges in half and scoop the pulp and seeds into a large bowl. Then press the pulp and seeds through a fine mesh strainer to remove the solids (which can be saved to make the syrup.) Discard the rinds, or dehydrate them for a lovely potpourri.

2. Sanitize the jars in a hot water bath.

3. Pour the juice into a large pot and whisk in the pectin. Bring up to a rolling boil.

4. Pour in all of the sugar, and stir. Bring this back up to a rolling boil and cook 1 minute. You can test the set with a cold plate. Remove from the heat.

5. Use a sterile canning funnel and ladle to pour the jelly into the sterile, hot jars and wipe the rims. Screw on the rings and place back into the water bath for 10 minutes to seal.

6. Remove the bathed jelly jars and allow them to cool. You should hear the lids *pop* closed. Label and store.

 

 

 

 

 

Using the syrup added to seltzer to make soda