Seville Orange Marmalade
This was my mum’s recipe, and during her later years I took over making it every year. Seville oranges are really bitter, and not for eating, but they make superb marmalade. Originally from China, they were then imported on trade routes to Europe. They’re available only for a short period of time - August in Australia, and January to February in the northern hemisphere.
Don’t try to make more than the recommended amount at a time, as the mixture won’t come to the boil as quickly or fast boil to get a good set.
This tastes amazing on fruit sourdough toast with lashings of butter!
Ingredients:
1 kg Seville Oranges
2 litres water
1 lemon
granulated sugar - about 1 kg
Makes 4-5 jars
Place 4 small plates or saucers in freezer (to test for setting later on).
Thinly slice peel off washed oranges and lemon with potato peeler, taking as little pith as possible. Chop into 1.5 x 0.25 cm strips and put in large preserving pan (not non-stick).
Cut remaining fruit in half and juice. Add juice to pan. Put pips and pith into a large square of muslin and tie up tightly. The pith and pips contain a lot of pectin which is what is needed to set the marmalade, so be generous with the amount.
Add water to the pan and bring to simmering.
Simmer gently, uncovered, for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours till peel is soft.
Sterilise the jars (wash in hot soapy water, rinse thoroughly then place jars on tray in oven at 120 degrees C fan forced).
Measure out how many cups of liquid you have, then add same amount of sugar.
Simmer until sugar is melted (make sure there are no crystals of sugar remaining).
Remove muslin bag and squeeze out all the jellylike substance into the pan.
Bring pan to fast boil and start timing. Keep a close eye on it to make sure it doesn’t boil over. After 15 minutes take pan off heat and put teaspoon marmalade onto one of the plates from the freezer. Put it back in the freezer for 5 minutes. It has reached setting point when you push it gently and it wrinkles. If it hasn’t set put pan back on the boil for another 5 minutes. Test again. Keep testing every 5 minutes till set.
Remove the jars from the oven and leave marmalade to settle for 15 minutes. If you put it in the jars too hot the glass will break. Leaving the marmalade to cool for a short period allows the peel to distribute - putting it in the jars too early will mean the peel will rise to the top of the jars).
Seal jars while still hot.
When its cool its ready to slather on toast! Keep in the fridge when opened.