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Apologies for the lack of posts, but with the snow, holidays and work I haven’t had time to upload anything recently. I have a large back log of articles so hopefully I will manage to get one up every week from now on.
My Grandmother always made the best marmalade – I don’t think that I ever helped her make it, and the recipe I use is not her’s but at this time of year when the Seville Oranges are in season there is nothing better to do with them than make marmalade.
Ingredients
- 1.5kg Seville oranges
- 2 lemons
- 2.5l cold water
- 2kg granulated sugar (approx)
You will also need:
- a preserving pan
- muslin
- string
- sterilised jars with screw top lids
Method
- Peel the oranges, leaving as much pith on the fruit as possible
- Squeeze the fruit, retaining the juice and squeezed oranges
- Scrape as much of the white pith off the peel as you can (I use a tea spoon to do this)
- Chop the peel into c. 3mm strips
- Place all the leftover fruit and pith in to pieces of muslin and tie up to form bags
- Put the juice, peel and muslin bags into a preserving pan. Add the cold water to the pan. Heat the pan until everything is boiling, then reduce the heat and simmer for 2 hours or until the peel is soft.
- Remove the muslin bag(s) and squeeze any liquid back in to the pan. Measure the contents of the pan and add 450g sugar for every 500ml of liquid.
- Gently heat for 15-20 minutes until the sugar is all dissolved. Increase the heat and boil rapidly until setting point is reached.
- Test that the marmalade has reached setting point by letting some cool on a wooden spoon then try to pour it off the spoon. If the marmalade forms a ‘curtain’ setting point has been reached.
- Skim any scum from the surface (you can dissolve it back in to the marmalade by adding a little butter but this results in a cloudy marmalade.) Leave the marmalade to cool for 10-15 minutes then pack into warm sterilised jars. Seal the jars whilst the marmalade is still warm.
Tips
- Don’t over boil the marmalade as it can be too solid once set
- When peeling the oranges try to keep the pieces as big as possible – it makes it easier to ‘de-pith’ and chop afterwards
- Your pan should be very large as when boiling rapidly the mixture can bubble up
- The above ingredients should make about 5 or 6 1lb jars depending on the amount of juice in the oranges, I often make a double batch but for that you need a very large pan!

Oranges and Lemons

Juice, pith and peel

Peel de-pithed

Ready for the pan

Simmering away

Squeezing out the muslin bags

Sugar

On the boil

Testing for set

Bottling

Completed Marmalade