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Let the marmalade making begin.  ;D

Sunday is going to be marmalade day here :)

I have been making it for a few days. How do you do it? Most recipes say cut the oranges up first, which is quite hard work - and tell you to put the pips into a muslin bag and boil in the water to extract the pectin, which is fiddly. But for 40 years I have been boiling the oranges first.

Just in case there are some people who don't do this already, this is what works for me:

Whatever your individual recipe is, simmer the oranges (I add a lemon too) in the water allowance with the lid on for about an hour.

Take them out when they are soft, cut them in half, scoop out all the insides including the pips, return to the pan and simmer for 10 minutes with the lid on while you slice up the nice soft skins.

Run the contents of the pan through a coarse colander with a bowl underneath. My colander is coarse enough to let some of the pulp through (I hate to throw it away) but keeps the pips back. I stir it through with a wooden spoon.

Return the juice/pulp to the pan, add the sliced skins and the sugar and boil until the setting point is reached.

I make small quantities (1.5 lb oranges plus a lemon) every day until I have enough, and it takes very little time and effort.

Apologies if everyone does this already, but many people I know have been doing it the hard way (thank you Mrs Beeton).

artichoke, thank you for that
now save us the trouble,
you have 1.5 lb oranges
1 lemon and how much water and sugar
anything else?
lbb

Gimme some Sevilles.....!!

PS Later - I know Emma finds this over-sharp, preferring Oxford type conserve, but this is REAL fruit stuff - more fruit to sugar than usual, I think? But that's the way it's been for 60 years!!

Marmalade

Pressure cook 4lb Sevilles & 1 Lemon for 15 min in 3 ½ pt Water.

When cool enough, cut Fruit to size, removing pips/membrane into muslin bag.

Dissolve 6lb Sugar in the water with muslin bag & bring to 220F.

Add  Fruit & restore to setting point – 220F.

Cool, stir & jar as usual.

I used to use a pressure cooker, but it gave up the ghost eventually.

I use 1.5 lb oranges, a lemon, 2 pints water and a whole bag of sugar (= a kilo these days...).  Mrs Beeton uses 3lb sugar but I find that too sweet. I like it bitter.

You can double the quantities and make more at once, of course, but I find that makes a much longer, messier session; I prefer to make it little and often until the season's over.

I freeze a few oranges raw in case I want to make duck with orange sauce, or anything else that needs a sharp tasting orange when they are no longer around.

....or even more Marmalade??

PS - Snap - the same proportions!!

tim and artichoke  thank you.
can it go into kilner jars? what do i do about sterilising them?
lbb

Why waste Kilners?  Ours goes into any left-over jar with a clean lid.

I do them in the bottom (AGA) oven till I'm ready for them.

Where do you get the Sevilles from? I havent seen any and would love to make some marmalade.

I got mine in our farm shop, they had a large crate of them and everyone was buying them!  Didn't know so many peeps made home made marmalade.

I also only use old jam jars - the local womens institute save them for me, any 'regular' smooth plain jars they use to make preserves to sell at the market, so I get all the pretty jars, or small ones.

Got ours in Waitrose yesterday.

Quote from: markfield rover on January 19, 2009, 08:40:12
Got ours in Waitrose yesterday.

Ditto - Marmalade Day today! (How's that for good planning? Tipping it down with rain, something decent on the radio and I've got an indoor job!!)

Made my traditional seville marmalade, but had 6 oranges left, so today picked up a couple of grapefruits and a bag of limes and am now making mixed citrus marmalade.  YUM!

What do you do with your spare time, Emma??

 ;D  Dig in other peoples gardens Tim.

Breakfast home made marmalade a la artichoke, how much easier you way,, ;D ;D ;D
Thank you

 Evening Emma Jane
                   Can you tell me where you are in the country re seville oranges please?

Sunny Essex gordon.

Mine's just cooking away now too ;D