Seville Orange Marmalade
This is a recipe I have used for a while now - it is a mish mash of my favorite idea's and techniques, some from school back in the early 80's, a bit from Saint Delia Smith, and a lashing of the wild Indians (sorry, Women's Institute)
Seville Oranges are the BEST oranges for making marmalade, in fact I would only make marmalade from them as they are THE marmalade orange - and they are pretty much useless for anything else.
They can be a little difficult to get hold of - only imported in January and February, but make friends with your supplier to make sure you get them each year.
I use a brass jam pan - this was given to my great grandfather on his rag and bone cart when my grandma who is 96 now was a small girl. BUT - ANY heavy bottomed LARGE pan will do - this distributed the heat more evenly and it is less lightly to burn your marmalade. I have also found over the years that a gas hob is preferable to an electric hob - it is just more controllable, and hotter!
These are just my tips - everyone makes their own preserves slightly differently and the results will never be identical!
PREPARATION - for DAY 2
Before you start - pop a couple of side plates into the fridge or even the freezer.
Wash / scrub your jam jars. Turn the oven on to about 100 degrees Celsius, lie the jars on their sides on the shelves and remember Hot glass looks EXACTLY the same as cold glass. Always prepare more jars than you think you will need.
Make sure you have a good supply of Jam pot covers - either screw fit lids or wax and cellophane discs.
Make sure you have something - a jug, cup or jam funnel to get the hot marmalade into the jars.
This recipe is prepared over 2 days.
Right - The ingredients...
To make apx 5kg or 10lb Marmalade
1.5kg (3 lb) Seville Oranges
2.75 - 3.5 Litre (4 1/2 - 6 pints) water
Juice or 2 lemons
3kg (6lb) sugar
Day 1.
Wash the oranges and place them whole into your pan
Cover with water - make sure the oranges are well covered.
Bring to the boil - then reduce the heat to a very gentle simmer - and simmer for about 3 hours. (this cooks the fruit right through.)
Carefully lift the fruit out of the water - leave the water in the pan, and place the fruit in a large colander over the pan of water (if the base of the colander is in the water - raise it by lying a couple of wooden spoons across the top of the pan and balance the colander on this.)
Leave all this overnight to drip and cool down.
Day 2
You will find that the whole cooked oranges are almost jelly like once cold.
place them onto a chopping board, and leaving the colander over the pan, line it with a piece of Muslin - or a clean glass cloth.
Cut each orange in to quarters, you should then b able to use a spoon to scoop out the insides and leave the skin with just 'enough' pith - placing the gloopy insides into the muslin cloth.
Once you have prepared all the oranges in this way, chop the skin into shreds the size you prefer!
Take the muslin corner and bring them together twisting. You need to twist out as much juice and goodness from the orange inners as possible. - once you have got every drop out, this can be discarded.
Add the shreds to your pan of juicy water.
Add the juice of the lemons
As a general preserving rule of thumb - for each pint of fruity liquid, you will need 1 lb sugar. so, measure your liquid and add the relevant amount of sugar.
Put the pan onto the heat, stirring all the time to dissolve the sugar crystals - you can either 'feel' with the back of the spoon against the pan, or 'look' at the back of the spoon to see if you can see any crystals.
Bring the mixture to a rolling boil now. It can take anywhere between 15 minutes to an hour to reach setting point. To test if your marmalade is ready, lift a plate out of the fridge and spoon a small drop or two of marmalade onto it. The cold plate should cool the mix down quickly, push the mix after a couple of minutes with your finger - it should feel thick and wrinkle up when it is set.
you made need to do this a few times!
once it has reached setting point, turn off the heat. place a knob of butter on top (this gets rid of any scum) and leave it to stand for a couple of minutes. Then, stir gently to distribute the shreds evenly.
Now! - CAREFULLY get your jam jars out of the oven - I do this with a wooden spoon handle and tea towel.
Take your jug and funnel (or just poor very carefully) and fill each jar to within apx 1/2" from the top.
Immediately pop a wax disc onto the top - this forms a germ free seal and must be done when the mix is very hot.
Either pop your screw top lids on now also, or if you are using cellophane tops, put them on when it is still very hot, or when completely cold - not when the jars are warm.
Allows the jars to cool down, and the marmalade to set - then wipe clean the jars and put a sticker on. (If you want to be all WI-ish, labels should be between the mould marks of the jar, apx 1" up from the bottom)
Any bits left in the pan should be spatula'd out straight onto a piece of toast, and sampled!
Mary's Cranberry and Orange Relish
(adapted from a Delia Smith recipe)
Cranberries pack |
12 oz
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Better if ripe (Can be used from deep freeze)
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Oranges
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2
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Cinnamon
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1 tsp
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Ginger
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1 tsp
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Sugar granulated
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6oz
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You may require extra sugar depending on how
tart the berries are and how sweet you prefer it
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Sherry
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2 tbls
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Jars
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Better packed in small jars, keep in fridge once opened
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Method
Soak cranberries in hot water for 10 mins. Then
mash with potato masher
Zest oranges, then peel as best possible and using inner only (not pith) process in small food chopper until
well mashed if a lot of juice strain and use part only.
Place cranberries, spices, sugar and orange
zest and inner contents into thick based pan and bring to boil
Simmer for 30mins adding sherry after 15 mins
Warm jars and fill placing lids on immediately
as in jam making
Keep in fridge once opened.
