The Best Orange Marmalade

Hi Guys
Okay so we were asked last week to make our favourite Marmalade recipe and write up how to make it.
I immediately started thinking about all sorts of exotic recipes. Like how about i cook it with star anise, chili, whisky, nutmeg or cloves. Even add beetroot, plums, blood oranges or carrot.
I went away trying to adapt and decide how i could make such an exotic marmalade, but my dreams were quickly shattered when I went home for the weekend.
My beautiful Irish mum is the BIGGEST fan of marmalade. Even would go so far as to claim, having tried every type of marmalade in the world. I spoke to her about all my ideas for this exotic marmalade i was going to make. However i was quickly corrected, and it was decided it was a classic homemade marmalade we were going to make.
Apparently there is nothing nicer.
So here is the recipe for a Seville orange marmalade, and it is terribly easy. The intensely sharp, bitter Seville oranges hold their own with the sweetness of the sugar and the fragrance of the orange peel.



Ingredients
-10 Seville oranges-2 lemons-1.5 litres water-2 kg sugar, 500g of which is preserving sugar
Method
Start by simmering the whole oranges and lemons, covered, in the given water until the skin is very soft; this takes between 40 minutes and two hours depending on the fruit. Use a smaller upturned saucepan lid that fits comfortably inside the preserving pan to keep the fruit immersed, but a plate with a weight on the top is a good alternative. Also piercing the oranges after about 20 minutes encourages immersion but rotate the fruit if not fully immersed.Next lift the soft fruit out into a colander over a bowl and leave to cool. Then tip the sugar into the hot orange water, stirring to dissolve. This takes several minutes but continue until the liquid is clear and no sugar catches on the bottom of your preserving pan.
Now you have to do one of the most time consuming parts of making your marmalade, but once its done its all very easy.
Firstly peel the skin of your oranges and lemons using a sharp turning knife, and then quarter the soft, cooled fruit and pile into a mixing bowl. Tip this debris into a fold of muslin and tie securely with white string and hang over the side of the pan. Slice the left over peel then into your preferred thickness... I always aim for something close to a matchstick. If you have a sharp knife this is very easy. Also do not worry about the thick pith left on your peel as this will melt to thicken the marmalade, and adds a nice bitterness.

Next stir the peel into the liquid. Bring the marmalade to simmer over your largest burner, stirring thoroughly and constantly with a long wooden spoon to avoid sticking points. Also if you use a decent preserving pan with a thick base, you get a very good even heat.Once the marmalade begins to simmer, increase the heat and boil hard, stirring occasionally, until setting point is reached. This varies depending on the fruit and may be as little as five minutes, but more likely to be 15 or even longer. Once it begins to look syrupy, test by placing a teaspoonful on a cold glass saucer that has been in the fridge or freezer. Once it has cooled then push with your finger. If it wrinkles it’s done.Lift out the muslin bag, suspend over the pan and squeeze as much juice out as possible. Stir again. Leave the marmalade to settle for five minutes. Stir again and pour, or ladle, the seemingly runny marmalade into hot, sterilised jam jars or kilner jars are even better.

Leave for five minutes then cover the top of the marmalade with wax disks and a lid, and then leave to cool. Rinse and dry the sticky jars, leave for 24 hours to set before storing.Then its ready to eat, and I promise it is so so much nicer than anything you would buy in the supermarket.
My mum certainly hasn't complained!

Everything you need to make this great marmalade is available from our shop in Cheltenham or online.

http://www.kitchenercookware.com/

Conrad Clarke