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HI all! Where did I go wrong??
Got 76 orange trees in the garden, and muggins here cant make marmalade!!! good job we like OJ!!!

heres the recipie that I used

3 Ib´s Oranges (eating)
4 lemons
6 pints water
6 Ib sugar

I used all the peel and put the pips in a muslin bag boiled for one hour, then added sugar and kept boiling, did the cold plate test every 20 mins, but It wouldnt B***** set!! even addes a whole bottle of pectin and some arrowroot!!

I´m going to try again tomorrow what (apart from add more pith and pips) should I do different? any ideas on where I went wrong?


Cheers all and If I havnt said it before happy new year to you all! XX

That's EXACTLY the recipe I use too Biscombe ???
Alll I can think is that for some reason your oranges don't contain as much pectin as they should - but I can't really think why that should be, and it would have been solved by the little bag of pectin wouldn't it? ::) Not much help really, just wanted to say I can't see why it's happened either!

Twice the water you need.

Just noticed your recipe says 'eating oranges' Biscombe. Do you think there's a difference between the pectin/rind to pulp ratio in eating as opposed to Seville oranges? I've only made marmalade with Sevilles ::)

Is this yours tim? I made a note whenever it was posted, but haven't tried yet:

4lb Seville oranges
31/2 pt Water
1 big fleshy Lemon
6lb Sugar

this is the one I use in the jam pan:

3 Ib Seville oranges
1 large lemon
6 pints water
6 Ib sugar

and this one in the pressure cooker:

1 - 1½ lbs Seville Oranges
Juice of 1 large lemon
2½ cups of water
3lbs sugar, warmed

???

I'd love to make some seville orange marmalade again - but where do I buy the oranges? When I lived in Spain the orange groves were ringed with bitter orange trees (to put off the sweet ones being filched I presume) so, since they were never harvested, I always had a good supply at this time of the year.

Tricia

The market, greengrocers and farmer's shop here have them here (also Waitrose) - come to think of it, usually about this time of year ::) Only for a couple of weeks, short season.

Many outlets are giving up stocking because they just rot on the shelves - this great modern society!!

Yes, Sarah - it has more fruit/sugar than most. I think that EJ found it a bit zingy!!

I only cook the fruit in the p/c - all else in the pan. Main aim is minimum stewing to keep it tasting of oranges.

I wondered the same about variety, but I don't think that that should make any difference.

By the way, when you DO buy, buy extra for reserve in the freezer & for Nigella's heavenly icecream!!

Going to try again this afternoon, after I´ve finished my digging and weeding jobs! keep your fingers crossed for me! I boiled some extra lemons in a muslin bag last night for more pectin, and as camborne suggested ease off the boiling. Wish me luck..............

Thought about you this morning when we had breakfast.  OH loves marmalade and makes his own.  Hope that all works out well today.

Good luck

Ongoing disaster! boiled some more lamons for ages this morning for an extra pectin boost and the muslin bag split! what can I use instead!? thanks for your encouragement everyone :-*

I really do not believe that you need all this hassle, or it's going to be a lemon jam? The only thing you miss with sweet oranges is the bitterness - not the acidity.

I can find no recipe which suggests added lemon or pectin for sweet oranges. Here is one (I do not agree with the amounts!!)
6 sweet oranges and a lemon
2.3 litres water
1.8 kg granulated sugar

You DO, of course, boil up the pips etc in the bag? Like you suggest for the lemons?

Don't know what Cambourne suggests, but I do not put the peel in until the rest is up to temperature.


Sorry - this overlapped yours!

Gosh no idea what else you could use?

Persistence must be your middle name Biscombe! I've sometimes ended up with a bad batch, even with a tried and tested recipe - maybe this is just one of those :-\

Might your oranges be juicier (i.e. with more water content) than Seville oranges? At this stage I'd be tempted to start from scratch with Tim's reduced-water recipe :P

For us, Tesco will have them in a couple of weeks.

By the way, Biscombe, yes of course you boil up the pips - sorry!

Tim, please can you let me have Nigella's recipe for marmalade ice-cream or tell me where I can find it? It sounds delicious ;D

will it still be ok for pouring over ice cream, Biscombe ?

Biscombe... In answer to your split muslin problem.

I use nylon mesh (net curtain will do just fine) -- it cleans out very easily and doesn't mind when you wring it hard (to get every last drop of pectin-rich goo out of the pith/pips mixture.) 

Hope the marmalading goes better from now on  :)

I bought Seville oranges from Morrisons yesterday. I did the soaking-with-the-pips-overnight thing, but removed the pips before boiling-OOPS :-[! Hope it turns out OK. I have some jam sugar left over so I'll use that.

Well! boiled up the marmalde syrup in a last ditch attempt to save the 8 jars or so, and it turned into a toffee mess very quicky! burned the bottom of the pan too, will take ages to scrape it!!
not a country kitchen gal yet!!! oh well I´m not giving up......well tonight I am!!! glass o wine o clock!! another attempt tuesday!! I´ll let you know how I get on!! saving the pips from the OJ in the meantime!
Thanks again for all the support, you lot are stars  :-*

its ok for us were not doing the washing up!