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How I Made My Marmalade
Feb. 3rd, 2013 11:58 amA post for reference next year, also for JB who said my last year's batch was very good.
Based on the whole-orange method as seen here, here and here.
In advance: Collect jars. Buy powdered pectin, just in case.
Saturday: Go up to Skipton, look in all the outdoor shops for an inflatable pillow but fail to find one, buy a ginger cake in Wild's and some organic oats, some blueberry tea, and two kilos of organic golden granulated sugar in the health food shop. Have lunch at the Woolly Sheep. Look round the market, decide against getting any cowslips at the plant stall this year, get some beautiful local forced rhubarb (from the Rhubarb Triangle, in fact) and a kilo of Seville oranges, and a lemon.
Saturday evening: wash the oranges, cut them in half, put them in a small pan, just cover with water, seal the top of the pan with foil under the lid, bring to the boil and poach for 2-3 hours. Enjoy scent of oranges permeating house. Turn off, leave in pan overnight. Run the dishwasher.
Sunday morning: Empty the dishwasher. Get oranges out of cooking pan, scoop the innards and most of the pith back into the poaching water. Cut the peel into bits of the size you want, put them into your biggest pan (preserving pan if you have one). Put some of the sugar over them so that not too much of the oils evaporates while they wait to be cooked.
Halve the lemon (and a sweet orange that's hanging around in the fridge, optional). Cut off and discard the peel from half the lemon and the whole sweet orange. (Put the spare half lemon back in the fridge.) Put any pips into the poaching water with the Seville innards. Cut up the flesh small and put it in the preserving pan with the peel. (This step because I decided last year I wanted some little bits in the marmalade to give it some body, rather than just having peel floating in jelly. You could just put the juice in, or roughly chop the flesh and put it in with the Seville innards.)
Put the foil back over the poaching liquid, bring it back to the boil and simmer it while you make and eat breakfast (1/2 to 1 hour.) Enjoy scent of oranges permeating house. Turn off and leave to cool.
Put jars and lids in dishwasher with a selection of metal ladles (and the breakfast dishes) and run on hottest setting. Do not open door when it finishes. Put a couple of plates in the fridge.
Sunday afternoon or evening: Boil kettle. Open dishwasher, fish all the lids out of the depths, pour boiling water over them and set them on top rack to dry. Pour boiling water over jam funnel as well, if you have one, and put it in the top rack too. Close the dishwasher again.
Pour poaching liquid through sieve into preserving pan. Squish any goop that will squish through the sieve. (Never mind doing it through muslin and squeezing it out; I did that last year and it was really yucky, and the marmalade still didn't set until I added pectin.) Add more sugar, so there's about a kilo and a half in there. Stir to mix, heat up slowly to dissolve sugar, taste (carefully!) to see if it needs the last 500g sugar; bring to the boil for a few minutes. (Or longer if you want a darker, more caramelised marmalade.) Enjoy scent of oranges permeating house.
Test for set with a cold plate. Swear, sprinkle one pack pectin over top, stir in, boil for a few more minutes, test for set again. (Repeat if necessary). When it's finally at setting point, put it into the jars with the clean ladle and jam funnel (stirring well), and put the lids on. Turn each jar upside down when it's full; turn them a couple of times while they cool, which should get the peel to settle evenly through the jars.
Blissfully lick all the implements. If you have a small amount left over that isn't worth putting into a jar, bitter orange and rhubarb compote is amazing. Otherwise just let it cool slightly and slather it over some ginger cake, or swirl through yogurt.
Yield: Depends on how much water you use to cover the oranges and how long you boil it down for. I tend to get six pound jars and about another half-jar's worth.
Total time actually doing things: Depends on how long it takes to set, and if you chop the lemon or just juice it. Say an hour spread over two days.
(Note for next year: remember that seville orange juice is supposed to be wonderful squeezed over fish like lemon, and get an extra orange.)
Based on the whole-orange method as seen here, here and here.
In advance: Collect jars. Buy powdered pectin, just in case.
Saturday: Go up to Skipton, look in all the outdoor shops for an inflatable pillow but fail to find one, buy a ginger cake in Wild's and some organic oats, some blueberry tea, and two kilos of organic golden granulated sugar in the health food shop. Have lunch at the Woolly Sheep. Look round the market, decide against getting any cowslips at the plant stall this year, get some beautiful local forced rhubarb (from the Rhubarb Triangle, in fact) and a kilo of Seville oranges, and a lemon.
Saturday evening: wash the oranges, cut them in half, put them in a small pan, just cover with water, seal the top of the pan with foil under the lid, bring to the boil and poach for 2-3 hours. Enjoy scent of oranges permeating house. Turn off, leave in pan overnight. Run the dishwasher.
Sunday morning: Empty the dishwasher. Get oranges out of cooking pan, scoop the innards and most of the pith back into the poaching water. Cut the peel into bits of the size you want, put them into your biggest pan (preserving pan if you have one). Put some of the sugar over them so that not too much of the oils evaporates while they wait to be cooked.
Halve the lemon (and a sweet orange that's hanging around in the fridge, optional). Cut off and discard the peel from half the lemon and the whole sweet orange. (Put the spare half lemon back in the fridge.) Put any pips into the poaching water with the Seville innards. Cut up the flesh small and put it in the preserving pan with the peel. (This step because I decided last year I wanted some little bits in the marmalade to give it some body, rather than just having peel floating in jelly. You could just put the juice in, or roughly chop the flesh and put it in with the Seville innards.)
Put the foil back over the poaching liquid, bring it back to the boil and simmer it while you make and eat breakfast (1/2 to 1 hour.) Enjoy scent of oranges permeating house. Turn off and leave to cool.
Put jars and lids in dishwasher with a selection of metal ladles (and the breakfast dishes) and run on hottest setting. Do not open door when it finishes. Put a couple of plates in the fridge.
Sunday afternoon or evening: Boil kettle. Open dishwasher, fish all the lids out of the depths, pour boiling water over them and set them on top rack to dry. Pour boiling water over jam funnel as well, if you have one, and put it in the top rack too. Close the dishwasher again.
Pour poaching liquid through sieve into preserving pan. Squish any goop that will squish through the sieve. (Never mind doing it through muslin and squeezing it out; I did that last year and it was really yucky, and the marmalade still didn't set until I added pectin.) Add more sugar, so there's about a kilo and a half in there. Stir to mix, heat up slowly to dissolve sugar, taste (carefully!) to see if it needs the last 500g sugar; bring to the boil for a few minutes. (Or longer if you want a darker, more caramelised marmalade.) Enjoy scent of oranges permeating house.
Test for set with a cold plate. Swear, sprinkle one pack pectin over top, stir in, boil for a few more minutes, test for set again. (Repeat if necessary). When it's finally at setting point, put it into the jars with the clean ladle and jam funnel (stirring well), and put the lids on. Turn each jar upside down when it's full; turn them a couple of times while they cool, which should get the peel to settle evenly through the jars.
Blissfully lick all the implements. If you have a small amount left over that isn't worth putting into a jar, bitter orange and rhubarb compote is amazing. Otherwise just let it cool slightly and slather it over some ginger cake, or swirl through yogurt.
Yield: Depends on how much water you use to cover the oranges and how long you boil it down for. I tend to get six pound jars and about another half-jar's worth.
Total time actually doing things: Depends on how long it takes to set, and if you chop the lemon or just juice it. Say an hour spread over two days.
(Note for next year: remember that seville orange juice is supposed to be wonderful squeezed over fish like lemon, and get an extra orange.)
