Orange Marmalade

Since it's spring vacation, I had enough free time to consider more marmalade. This book is full of marmalade recipes, so I figured I had better seize the day. This recipe had a terminology problem, or I had a terminology problem. The first instruction was to remove the rind in strips from four oranges and two lemons. I interpreted this to mean the peel, and set about removing same with my thumbs. After I had six naked citrus fruits on the counter, my husband wandered over, and explained that what they probably meant was to remove the colored part with a peeler.
Marmalade not being a delicate dish, I pressed on. Put the one third of strips (blobs) into an electric blender with 1/2 cup of water, it said. Well, what you end up with is a lot of white stuff, and little flakes of the rind. Use the food processor, husband suggested. In order to get the white stuff and flakes out of the mixer, I added more water.
After food processing the rest of the rind, which became rind by using a sharp knife to remove the white stuff, the book said to put it in a sauce pan and boil it for twenty minutes. Since what I had was mildly moist bits of rind, which was clearly not going to boil, I added five cups of water.
The next instruction was to scoop the pulp out of the oranges and lemons. Since you can't scoop pulp out of a naked orange, I sliced them and popped the slices into the water-peel mixture with the sugar.
The final ingredient was 1/2 bottle of liquid fruit pectin. Now, liquid fruit pectin may be available in the summer, in canning season, but, not in late March. So, I boiled. The boiling went on most of the afternoon, during dinner, and after dinner, to no avail. Today, I went out in the morning, planning to return and boil in the afternoon. When I came back, lo and behold, what did I find, but the completed marmalade, ready to put in jars and cover with melted paraffin.
I don't know how this recipe was really supposed to work out. It doesn't seem like it called for enough liquid to really make marmalade. But here it is, and if anyone tries it and gets it to work in the manner intended by the author, let us all know.

Orange Marmalade

4 large oranges
2 lemons
1 1/2 cups water
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
5 cups of sugar
1/2 bottle of liquid pectin

1. Remove the rind in strips from the oranges and lemons. (Rind means just the colored part. Use a potato peeler.)
2. Place one third of the strips in the container of an electric blender. (Use a food processor.) Add one-half cup of water, cover and blend on high speed seven to ten seconds. Pour into a saucepan.
3. Repeat the process twice, using the remaining fruit rinds and water. Combine all the blended mixture in the saucepan.
4. Add the baking soda. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer twenty minutes.
5. Scoop the pulp and juice from the oranges and lemons and add to the saucepan. Cook ten minutes longer. Add the sugar, bring to a full rolling boil and boil one minute.
6. Remove from the heat and add the pectin. To keep fruit rinds from floating, let marmalade cool ten minutes before bottling.
7. Pour into hot sterilized jelly glasses. Pour two thin layers of melted paraffin over. Store in a cool dark, dry place.
Makes 5 to six six ounce glasses.