naringenin: inhibiting inflammation with marmalade
February 12, 2016Don’t just drink your orange juice, eat the peels too, very very well cooked.
Ray Peat PhD, quotes on Naringenin:
“Orange juice contains the antiinflammatory chemicals naringin and naringenin, which protect against endotoxin by suppressing the formation of nitric oxide and prostaglandins (Shiratori, et al., 2005).”
“Orange juice contains naringenin which is effective against melanoma, and guavas contain apigenin, also effective. A diet consisting of milk, orange juice, guavas, cheese, and some eggs, liver, and oysters, with aspirin would be protective against the spread of the tumor.”
“Substances that inhibit inflammation are likely to also inhibit excessive collagen synthesis, serotonin secretion, and the formation of estrogen. Besides aspirin, some effective substances are apigenin and naringenin, found in oranges and guavas. These flavonoids also inhibit the formation of nitric oxide and prostaglandins, which are important for inflammation and carcinogenesis (Liang, et al., 1999).” – from his article ‘The Cancer Matrix‘
“When I get sour oranges I make marmalade from the peels, if they are organic. Shred, soak, cook slowly simmering in water for about an hour before adding sugar, and letting that simmer without boiling until it thickens a little. When it’s cool it thickens more. The peels are rich in antiinflammatory chemicals, more than the juice, and the marmalade is a good way to get sugar with the cottage cheese or parmesan.“
“Marmalade is like a Super drug” – 24.40 mins into Danny Roddy’s Generative Energy Podcast Episode 31 ‘Safe Supplements’.
* After asking Dr Peat for further clarification on his marmalade-making-methods, this is the recipe I pieced together:
Ray Peat’s marmalade (my interpretation):
- Get a 3kg bag of organic oranges (mine contained 14 large oranges).
- Halve them and juice them (save juice).
- Scoop out the remaining pulp with a spoon (dump pulp).
- Rinse them, then shred them finely in a food processor.
- Put in to a large bowl filled with water and leave to soak overnight in the fridge.
- Drain then transfer to a heavy based pot, cover them in clean water and simmer uncovered for 1.5 -2 hours, checking regularly and topping up with a little of the orange juice or water if water level starts to run too low.
- Add 3 cups of white sugar, stir, and keep simmering gently (not boiling), for another 4 hours (or more, until peel is very tender), continuing to check regularly if more fluid is needed. Note: you do not want the sugar to caramelise and go brown, so make sure you regularly check it doesn’t start to bubble too furiously or the fluid doesn’t get too low.
- When the peel is soft enough and the liquid has thickened slightly, turn off the stove and allow to cool down before refrigerating.
Note: you can sterilise jars and preserve it (if you’re good at that) but we go through this within a week or two usually so I just keep it in a container in the fridge. You could definitely double the recipe.
Delicious on slices of cheese, ricotta, cottage cheese, thick greek yoghurt or home made vanilla ice cream.
Further reading regarding naringenin:
‘Protective Effects of Citrus Flavanoid Naringenin’ by Rob Turner of Functional Performance Systems – http://www.functionalps.com/blog/2013/11/19/protective-effects-of-citrus-flavanoid-naringenin/
Also, acknowledgement and thanks to my wise friend Dodie Anderson
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Disclaimer: My posts are not meant to be individualised treatment plans, protocols, etc. I share what I research and use, and that is it. They are meant to spark thought based on the normal anatomy, physiology and biochemistry of the body. The information contained in this blog should not be used to treat or diagnose disease or health problems and is provided for your information only.
20 Responses to “naringenin: inhibiting inflammation with marmalade”
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Hi! Your recipe is a bit unclear in some places. At step 2 you mention “them”. I guess you mean the orange peels? Do you use the juice for anything? I would have thought that you would cook the peeks in it, maybe topped up with water, but it only said water?… I hope you can answer my questions by going through your recipe again…
Kind regards, Lotte
yes, the peels. I add only water for most part of the initial simmering, then I top up with some of the juice (see step 6). You could use all juice of course. I reserve most of the juice for drinking fresh
Emma, why does it need to be soaked overnight?
Serge, from the cookbooks I’ve read, the soaking helps to lessen the bitterness of the peels, release the pectin, and reduce the cooking time overall.
Hi. Just discovered your blog, and I’m subscribing! This looks delicious. Just wanted to know if there’s a health reason by which the peels have to be cooked, as I was planning to make a homemade vitamin C powder with orange peels that doesn’t call for cooking them. Thanks
It would be to do with breaking down the indigestible components and irritants like pectin Ana. Why not just drink the fresh juice for an abundance of Vitamin C? I’d assume you would lose much of the Vitamin C in the drying process
Hello Emma, thanks for this. Are you sure Ray Peat would eat the peels as well? I thought it was for releasing the aroma and the chemicals only.
Thanks.
Those quotes were directly from Ray, Marco. Yes, he does eat a lot of homemade marmalade!
Hey Emma, yesterday I tried making some marmalade. Instead of boiling them for hours on end I put them into my Thermomix, steamed the peels and then simmered for some time. The peels are really soft, but the orange taste is way too strong. Do you know if this is due to the steaming instead of cooking? Do you know if the orange oils etc. might be allergenic? It feels slightly allergenic…
Thanks..
Not really sure Konstantine, I don’t have a Thermomix. I’d suggest trying it the way I’ve outlined in the recipe; the peels need to be cooked for a really long time, and not at too high a temp. Maybe this is hard to gauge with a Thermomix? The long cooking lessens the potential allergens. If your batch doesn’t sit right with you, I’d ditch it
hello and merry xmas Emma. I have made a lemon cordial which contains; organic lemons; some of the skin,rind and juice and white sugar. Would this have the same benefits??
Hi Patrice, thank you and Happy Christmas to you too!
Yes your cordial would contain some of these beneficial flavonoids, although lemon rind doesn’t contain nearly as much as orange rind. See this chart here to compare naringenin content of whole lemons compared to whole oranges: http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v62/n9/fig_tab/1602827t2.html
Thanks Emma. Wow, thats a huge difference between the two. Will definately look out for some organic oranges.
Must start planting orange trees!!!
yes we all should!
Hi Emma! How much liquid do you want to have in the pot at the end of the cooking time? When I made this recently for the first time, mine had very little liquid at the end, and the finished product doesn’t look quite like yours…it doesn’t seem like the pieces of orange peel are sitting in much of the orange jelly that it appears to be in the jar you photographed.
Rachel you’d just need to simmer it for longer; maybe even another hour or so. More important to go by look and feel. Your pot might be lighter-based, your hot plate flame might be larger … You need to watch it and stop when you are happy with the consistency, and/or add more liquid as it reduces.
Great recipe! What sort of juicer do you use? Thanks
Chris it’s a Bodum Bistro Citrus Juicer. Not sure if they’re still making them, but if you can track one down I highly recommend it. Sturdy, and it strains the pulp out well also.
Hi,
Do mandarins have narigenins and flavonoids too? It would be a lovely marmalade.
Yes!