The Boy on Top
Marmalade? I'm afraid I can't help. My reaction to all marmalades: yuck. I never acquired the taste. Good luck on your quest though!
You don't like marmalade? Quelle horror! On warm toast with lots of butter, nothing better... TB
As usual, I can be of no help. I feel so emasculated. Cheers!!
Well done, home-made marmalade is bound to be much nicer than bought. I don't know why you were told it was a bad year for Seville oranges, Al's had some fabulous ones in and someone said she'd had the best results ever.
I halve the oranges and squeeze them as you describe first. I use an electric squeezer and all the pips and membrane seem to come out as I squeeze. The other methods sound fine though. However, I'd certainly cut up the rind by hand - I know some people chop it in a food processor which saves a lot of time, but the marmalade is cloudy with minced bits of peel instead of lovely shreds. One can use the slicing disc of the processor, but still need to hand-finish it as pieces slide through.
The pith dissolves in cooking, so it doesn't matter whether you leave it on the rind or not. It also contains pectin.
The washing rag is fine - I can get muslin at the old-fashioned drapery shop here, but it doesn't matter and I've used different things, including a piece (boiled) of an old teatowel. Squeeze as much as you can out afterwards, as the thick gloop contains loads of pectin. I do it between two plates.
I've never heard of not boiling marmalade after adding sugar, but you could give MiL's recipe a try. How long you need to boil it for depends on how much water evaporated while you were simmering the peel and juice. If yours seems thick but barely set, maybe you didn't get enough pectin-gloop out of the pips & membranes?
If it's bitter, you either didn't have enough sugar, I suppose, or overboiled it - if it's very dark then that'd be the latter reason.
I use Delia's recipe, which is fine. As I remember, 2 lbs oranges, 1 lemon, 4 pints of water, prepare, simmer until tender, add 4 lbs sugar, boil hard until, when tested, you have a set. My sugar thermometer is less use than experience and a final check with a chilled plate.
Thank you, thank you! I was hoping you'd come through with the goods. The recipe is the same ratios as I used, so no probs there. It wasn't overboiled (ie nice light orange colour as it should be), so it was then either overly bitter oranges (they were very small and unjuicy) or not enough sugar. Shall trust in my tongue in future. I never heard of the final check with a chilled plate, are you just looking for it turning jellyish? Thanks again, TB
As a child I helped my mother make marmalade with Seville oranges on several occasions. I seem to remember that she boiled the oranges whole, then fished them out of the pan and while they were still hot I dissected them and sliced up the peel. I think we then put the pips and pith in the muslin bag, returned the peel to pan with the bag of stuff, added preserving sugar (coarser than granulated) and boiled again.
My mother used to heat the jars in the oven to sterilise them before pouring in the cooked and slightly cooled marmalade. We then put a circle of greasproof paper in the jar on top of the marmalade and sealed the jar with a circle of wetted cellophane and a rubber band. Wetting the cellophane made it flexible, so that it gave a good seal.
The end result was good, and I evidently learnt something during the process, but Coopers' Oxford maramalade is also good (as are Golden Shred, Silver Shred and - my favourite - ginger marmalade).
Mmm, ginger marmalade! Once I get the basics sorted I fully intend to experiment with some of the mixes like that. I just surfed a recipe that suggested boiling the oranges whole. Might give that a go. Thanks! TB
Hey Nigella, you could throw in the quantity of ingredients, it's making my mouth water and have to make some too,
Delia
x
The ingredients are very simple, 1 part oranges to 2 parts sugar and lots of water. For example, 3 pounds (1.5 kilos) Seville oranges, 6 pounds (3 kilos) sugar and 6 pints (3.5 liters) of water. TB
Buy Robinsons?
Mightily impressed though!
Don't be, the wife thinks I'm mad, and was quizzing me on exactly where we were going to store all the jars? TB
ps I think we may have used Mrs Beeton's "AN EASY WAY OF MAKING ORANGE MARMALADE" recipe. See recipe 1568 at
http://www.mrsbeeton.com/31-chap...-
chapter31.html
My mother had a copy of Mrs Beeton. As far as I remember Mrs Beeton's marmalade recipe was the only one she actually used.
I've always heard of Mrs Beeton, but have never read. Thanks for the link! TB
When you start, put a few small plates in the freezer. When you think the marmalade is about ready, put a little on a plate and swirl it around a bit to cool quickly - it should set almost at once. The test is to push the jelly with your finger - it should wrinkle. If it doesn't, boil for a bit longer.
Yes, I agree, heat the jars. By the way, when making strawberry jam, let it cool quite a bit before potting, otherwise the strawberries will all float to the top.
If you freeze Seville oranges to make marmalade later, you cook them from whole. I've never tried it.
The oranges are so bitter normally that I can't understand that being a problem, though the lack of juice might. I think I'd add a nice juicy grapefruit to the next batch and see if that does the trick. I'd not really want to alter the sugar ratio.
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