Somewhere in the world, 2019 is a great growing season. But here in Maine, it’s been slow, wet, and disappointing. Each plant comes to fruition two weeks late (at least), and the season is fast. Peonies flowered and fell to pieces in two days, broccoli raab barely had the life of a perfectly ripen avocado. The summer growing season is late, short, and strangely intense. We’re barely keeping up.

Thank goodness for rhubarb. 2019 has been a bumper year for rhurbarb. So far, we’re put aside strawberry-rhubarb jam, rhubarb-in-syrup, rhubarb-fig jam, and my new obsession: rhubarb-carrot marmalade. We’re still picking it too. Enough to bring little bundles to dinner parties and back bubbly crumbles on rainy days. Enough to make a second batch of the beloved marmalade too!

We found the recipe in our old Putting Food By book, it’s very easy. It’s also easy to adjust if you want to. We’ve added fresh ginger to the second batch for a warming, little, kick.

6 cups diced rhubarb (the recipe calls for it to be peeled as well, but we didn’t bother)
3 cups grated carrots
2 medium oranges, scrubbed and unpeeled. Chop them into small cubes and slices.
4 cups sugar

Combine all items and let stand overnight. Then, stir over low heat until boiling, reduce the heat even more and let the marmalade simmer until thickened, stirring frequently. It may take about 2 hours, so be patient. Can it, and you’ll have lots of little jars of delicious marmalade!