Orange Marmalade

Home made orange marmalade always seems to me to have more flavour than the supermarket product. Marmalade is jam made with citrus fruit. It’s fairly easy to make but you’ll need to have a couple of hours free. It is worth the effort and if you label the jar nicely it makes a great gift.

The recipe uses a jam sugar, which is essentially a bag of sugar especially for making jam. It has larger crystals than normal sugar which makes a clearer preserve. I used Silver Spoon Preserving Sugar from a local supermarket; it’s available almost everywhere and costs only slightly more than granulated sugar.

Marmalade is traditionally made with Seville oranges as they are high in pectin. These are very bitter oranges, and you probably will only see them in December and January. Many supermarkets sell them off cheaply at the end of January, but if you can’t get any you may use any oranges but maybe also add pectin to the recipe to help in setting.

You’ll need a large saucepan, 4 or 5 clean jars and some string and muslin (which is a cotton material).

Ingredients

1kg Jam/Preserving sugar.
500g Seville oranges, washed.
1 lemon (actually 50ml of lemon juice).
1 litre (1¾ pints) water.

Method

Place 1 or 2 saucers in the fridge. We’ll use these to test the set of the marmalade later.

Cut the oranges in half and squeeze the orange juice. Use a sieve and keep all the pips and bits. Don’t be tempted to taste the Seville orange juice – it’s so bitter it’s unpleasant!

Chop the peel into fine shreds and place pan with the orange and lemon juice. Tie the bits in the muslin bag and add to the pan. Chopping the peel will certainly test your knife skills!

Bring to the boil and simmer for about 1½ hours. The liquid should reduce by half and the fruit should be very soft.

Turn the heat down and add the sugar, stirring until it has dissolved. Boil again for 10 minutes, skimming any froth which forms off the top. Warning: this is very hot, sticky liquid – handle with care, no kids or pets in the kitchen.

Spoon a little marmalade onto a cold saucer and place in the fridge. After 5 minutes check if the marmalade has set. If you push the marmalade it should wrinkle up. If it’s not setting then boil the liquid for another 5 to 10 minutes and try again.

Allow the marmalade to cool slightly. While this is happening you can place the jars on a tray and place in a cool oven (gas 1/110C/250F) for 10 minutes; this helps sterilise the jars and warms them up to prevent cracking when you pour the hot liquid in.