Seville and Malaga oranges come into the shops after Christmas and are around for 4-5 weeks, and these bitter oranges are traditionally used for marmalade. If you don’t have time to make it immediately, you can always freeze the whole fruit until you have time
Makes approximately 3kg
INGREDIENTS
- 900g Seville Oranges
- 2.3 litres of water
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1.8kg granulated sugar
METHOD
- Wash the fruit, cut in half and squeeze out the juice and reserve. Scrape the pith out with a spoon and tie in a piece of muslin along with the pips.
- Slice the peel finely or coarsely, depending on how you like your marmalade. Put the peel, orange and lemon juice, bag of pips and water into a non-reactive bowl or saucepan overnight.
- Next day, bring everything to the boil and simmer gently for about 2 hours until the peel is really soft and the liquid is reduced by half.
- Squeeze all the liquid from the bag of pips and remove it. This is high in pectin and will help set the marmalade. The peel must be absolutely soft before the sugar is added, otherwise it will become hard and no amount of boiling will soften it.
- Warm the sugar for 10 minutes in the oven, then add it to the pan stirring until it has all dissolved.
- Increase the heat and bring to a full rolling boil rapidly until setting point is reached, 5-10 minutes approx.
- Test for a set, either with a sugar thermometer (it should register 220F), or with a saucer. Put a little marmalade on a cold saucer and cool for a few minutes. If it wrinkles when you push it with your finger, it’s done.
- Allow marmalade to sit in the saucepan for 15 minutes before bottling to prevent the peel from floating.
- Pot into hot sterilised jars. Cover immediately and store in a cool dry dark place.
For Whisky Marmalade – Simply add 6 tablespoons of whisky to the cooking marmalade just before potting.