Sunshine on a winter's day
Maybe nature meant for bitter (Seville) oranges to be in season when it’s cold to bring a little warmth to your kitchen when you need it most. Making marmalade really feels like sunshine on your skin and you don’t need to make a lot or need any special equipment.
I’ve made marmalade for two decades but it wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I stopped everything else while I searched for the perfect recipe. I simmered over 12 kilos of various citrus fruit, half a kilo at a time, until I felt happy that I left no orange unturned. It was during this joyful frenzy, I discovered that there is no need to make large quantities, in fact, making more makes it more difficult.
If you want to dip your finger into marmalade making, what better way than to try just a little and enjoy the pleasure before it feels like a chore. Four bitter oranges will make you three jars of marmalade and you’ll discover huge satisfaction from making your own. This is a practical amount to make and means that if you don’t have a preserving pan, a large saucepan will do nicely.
Citrus fruit brings forceful energy to food, and never more than when it is fresh; but the rich comforting taste of marmalade comes in part from its long cooking. So to get the best of both worlds I add the fresh juice of a bitter orange to the cooked and tested marmalade before I put it in jars. This refreshes the marmalade, brings the zest bursting back to life and adds a cheeky sparkle that makes the marmalade wink before it sings and brings highly scented sunshine to your winter’s day.
Mackay’s New Classic Seville Orange Marmalade
Makes approximately 1.2 litres, enough to fill 2 average sized jam jars and most of a third.
This is my new, invigorated, fresh and refreshed bitter Seville orange recipe. I also tried it with regular oranges, but using this recipe, the marmalade is too sweet and doesn’t set in the same way. This is because these oranges don’t have as much pectin which is the natural setting agent in the bitter oranges. I later discovered that you can make a good version with regular oranges by swapping 1 orange for 1 lemon and using jam sugar (sugar with added pectin) instead of granulated or caster sugar. So don’t give up if you can’t find Seville oranges, or indeed if you want to make marmalade at a different time of year.
Prep ahead Marmalade will keep almost indefinitely if you keep it in a cool and dark place. I have some that I made two years ago.
Cooking Time: 2-2 1/2 hours
Active Time: 30-40 mins
3 Seville oranges, (approximately 500g) plus the juice of 1 to add at the end
1-1.2kg granulated or caster sugar
Method:
- Weigh 3 of the oranges. Weigh double their weight in sugar. Put the sugar next to your cooker.
- Put a 30cm square of muslin over the top of a sieve over a measuring jug. Cut the oranges in half through the tip where each would have been attached to its branch. Squeeze out all of the juice. Tip the juice, along with all of the pips and bits that get stuck around the top of the squeezer, into the muslin. Scrape the fleshy bits out of the squeezed orange halves with a tablespoon and put these into the muslin. Pull the sides of the muslin together to make a little bag and then tie the top firmly with string.
- Get a large saucepan. Add the muslin bag, the squeezed orange juice and 1 litre of water. Put the squeezed and scraped orange halves onto your chopping board, cut each half into three wedges and then turn them white side up (this makes it easier to cut) Slice the wedges into strips lengthways; I cut mine about 2mm thin but feel free to cut them a little thicker or thinner depending how you prefer to eat your marmalade.
- Add the strips of peel to the saucepan and bring the mixture to the boil. Turn the heat to low and then simmer gently for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until the peel is tender, this won’t take any longer than 2 hours. At this stage the liquid will have reduced by as much as two thirds; this is perfectly normal. Lift out the muslin bag and put it into a sieve. Put the sieve over the top of the pan. Press on the bag with a wooden spoon to extract as much of the gluey pectin as you can. Next, scrape the sides of the bag and your sieve with a spatula. Every little bit of the pectin will help your marmalade, discard the bag. Put 2 small cups or egg cups in your fridge.
- Add the sugar to the saucepan. Put the saucepan onto a medium/high heat and bring to the boil. Lower heat to medium and then simmer rapidly, rather than boil furiously, for 17 minutes. (This was the perfect amount of time for me with this quantity in a 24cm saucepan) Turn off the heat. If there is a large amount of scum, skin it off the side of the pan.
- Spoon a little of the marmalade into one of your cups. Put the cup back in the fridge for about 10 minutes to see if the marmalade sets; I like to check a depth of 2-3cm/1 inch because then I can really see if the marmalade sets rather than just see it get a skin on the top as I would if I used a saucer. If the marmalade is too runny, bring it back to the boil then try again after simmering for 5 minutes. Once the marmalade sets firmly in your cups add the juice of 1 orange to the marmalade in the saucepan and stir it in well.
- Transfer your marmalade to a jug, fill your jars up to about three quarters. Fill the last quarter with a spoon to save yourself cleaning up lots of overspill at the end. Let the marmalade cool. Seal the tops with clingfilm. Put the lids on. Store in a cool dark place.