Seville orange marmalade
Seville oranges have a very brief winter season from December to February. Seize the short Seville orange season and boil up homemade marmalade. Just in case you wish to make marmalade before December I have included two more recipes for today.
Ingredients
1kg Seville oranges, well scrubbed and halved
1 unwaxed lemon
2kg granulated sugar
Method Squeeze the oranges and keep their juice. Scrape out the pith and pips with a metal spoon, again keeping everything. Juice the lemon, too, then put the lemon shells, orange pith and seeds into a square of muslin about 30 x 30cm, and tie it with string. Leave the string long – that way you can tie it to your wooden spoon, which will make it easier to lift out later.
Cut each orange shell into 3 petals, then finely shred with a large, sharp knife. Put the peel into a preserving pan, tip in the juices, then sit the bag in the juice. Pour in 2.4 litres/4 pints cold water and leave to steep overnight.
Next day, leaving the bag in the pan, bring the liquid to the boil, then simmer for about 1 hr, or until the peel is soft and translucent and the liquid has reduced by one third. Turn off the heat and lift the muslin bag into a large bowl. Leave the bag until it’s cool enough to handle.
While you wait, get your jars ready. Wash 8 x 450g/1lb jars (or the equivalent volume larger or smaller jars) in hot, soapy water, then leave in a low oven to dry completely. Keep them warm. Alternatively, if you’ve got a dishwasher you can run the jars and lids though a hot cycle, then let them dry. Put a saucer in the freezer at this point, too.
Now for the messy bit – I like to don a pair of rubber gloves at this point. Hold the bag over its bowl, and squeeze and pummel it until you’ve extracted every last drop of juice and gunge through the muslin. This stuff contains the pectin – the crucial ingredient to the perfect set. You can now throw away what’s left in the bag and wash the muslin, ready to re-use.
Stir the contents of the bowl, plus all the sugar, into the pan. Stir every so often over a very gentle heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. Don’t boil before all the sugar has melted.
Slowly bring the pan to the boil. After 10 mins boiling, spoon a small blob of marmalade onto the cold saucer. Leave for a few secs, then push the marmalade with your finger. If it wrinkles, it’s ready. If not, boil for 10 mins more then try again. Even if you have a sugar thermometer (look for 105C or where it says ‘jam’), I’d still recommend the saucer test. If yours seems to be taking a while don’t worry, it can take anything from 10 mins to 45 mins for marmalade to reach setting point, depending on your oranges. Skim off any scum that comes to the surface in the meantime.
Once you’ve reached setting point, ladle the marmalade into the warm jars and seal. A funnel is really handy if you have one. The marmalade will keep for up to 1 year in a cool, dark place, and for up to a month in the fridge once opened.
Lemon marmalade
Homemade marmalade needn't be hard work - this simple method cooks lemons whole to start, saving time and effort.
Ingredients
1kg unwaxed lemon
2kg granulated sugar
Method
Chill a saucer in the freezer, ready for checking the setting point of your jam. Wash the lemons and remove the top ‘button’ which would have been attached to the stalk. Put the lemons in a large saucepan with 2.5 litres water. Bring to the boil, then cover the pan and simmer for 2½ hrs or until the lemon skins are lovely and tender, and can be pierced easily with a fork.
When the lemons are cool enough to handle, remove from the saucepan. Measure the cooking liquid – you’ll need 1.5 litres in total. If you don’t quite have this, make up the difference with water. If you have too much liquid, bring to the boil and reduce to the required amount.
Halve the lemons and remove the pips – reserving the pips and any lemon juice that oozes out during the process. Cut the lemon peel and flesh into strips, as thick or thin as you like. Put all of this, including any juices, back into the pan. Put the pips in a small piece of muslin and tie up with string. Add this to the pan, as the pips will aid the setting process of the jam.
Add the sugar and bring to the boil, stirring until it has completely dissolved. Boil rapidly for about 20 mins until setting point is reached. Test the setting point by dropping a little marmalade onto the chilled saucer, allowing it to cool for 1 min, then pushing gently with your finger. If the marmalade crinkles, the setting point is reached; if not, continue to boil and check again in a few mins.
Leave to cool for 10-15 mins (this will prevent the lemon shreds sinking to the bottoms of the jars), remove the muslin bag, then gently stir in one direction to disperse any scum (small air bubbles on the surface). Pour jam into warm sterilised jars and seal straight away.
Orange and grapefruit marmalade
makes about 6 x 250g jars
Ingredients 1 grapefruit 1 orange 1 lemon (they should weigh about 700g in total) 1.5 litres water 1.4 kg granulated sugar
Wash the fruit and place into a fairly snug saucepan and pour over the water. (The water should completely cover the fruit.)
Bring to the boil and boil for two hours, by which time the fruit should be very soft.
Remove the fruit from the pan and leave to cool. Reserve the cooking water. (You can do this the day before and leave the oranges, covered on the stove.)
Meanwhile sterilise the jars, wash in soapy water, rinse well and then place in a 100C oven, upside down, to dry.
Cut the fruit in half and scoop out all of the flesh and pips. Thinly slice the fruit skin.
To make the marmalade, you’ll need your widest, deepest pan.
Weight the shredded fruit skin and reserved water – it should weigh 1-1.2 kg. If not, boil the mixture for another 5 minutes or until it weighs 1-1.2kg. Stir in the sugar.
Place a saucer into the freezer.
Bring the sugar, water and fruit peel to a vigorous rolling boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Boil uncovered for 15mins.
Now, here is the tricky bit, you need to test the marmalade to make sure it will set once cooled.
Spoon half a teaspoon of marmalade onto the saucer. Allow it to cool for a minute back in the freezer, then push it with your little finger – if a crinkly skin forms, it has reached setting point. If not, continue cooking and do more testing at 5-minute intervals. (Depending on the size of your pan, it can take up to 45 minutes for the marmalade to set.)
Once ready, allow to cool for about five minutes so that the skin is dispersed evenly.
Remove the jars from the oven and without touching the lip, carefully turn them over.
Ladle the marmalade into a jug and pour the marmalade into the jars (use a spoon to push the skin into the jars). Clean up any spillages with a wet cloth.
Place the lids into a large bowl and cover with boiling water and leave for five minutes. Remove the lids, dry with a clean tea towel and place onto the jars.