Marmalade And Other Things To Make With Citrus Fruit
Written by gil
OK, it's January or February, perhaps the most miserable months of the year. But there's an upside : the arrival of Seville oranges. And that means one thing (at least in this house) – it's time to make MARMALADE. Sevilles aren't in season for long, so keep an eye out and buy them when you see them. You can also buy and freeze them now and make your marmalade later, but you will need to use 10% more fruit to make up for the setting qualities lost by freezing (so if you freeze 1kg, make the recipe as for 2lb).
Of course you can make
marmalade from other citrus fruits. And winter is as good a time as any for making it from sweet oranges (the
ordinary kind) or grapefruit. Or
even tangerines. But somehow, the
stuff you can make with Seville oranges
outclasses them all.
Bittersweet and intense, its smell and taste lift
the spirits on dark winter mornings. Lemon
or lime marmalades are different
again, and are perhaps more of a summer task, when these fruits are in
season.
As with other
home-made preserves, marmalade works out much cheaper, and is far
superior to
mass-produced. Plus you can cut the peel to the thickness and length
you
prefer, and have as much or as little of it as you like in a jar. If
you want your
marmalade without any peel, you can make the jelly versions. No more
bemoaning
the fact that 'thick-cut' appears to mean 'very thin shavings' to many
manufacturers. But then I was brought up on my father's exceedingly
chunky
marmalade, where pieces of peel in the grapefruit variety snaked their
way
across a whole slice of toast….
In this article, I'll
cover how to make the following Marmalades
with
peel in (Seville, mixed fruit, grapefruit, lemon, lime)
Jelly and 'shred'
marmalades (Seville orange, lemon, lime)Other things to
do with Seville oranges
Things to do with
marmalade (apart from the obvious)
The idea behind marmalade and
jelly-making
is to preserve as far as possible the taste of the fresh fruit. The
longer you
cook and boil it for, the more it will taste cooked, or even syrupy or
treacly.
The crucial thing is to get your mixture to 'setting point'
(see below). This is affected by the pectin content of
the fruit, and the
fruit's acidity, which helps release the pectin. Fortunately, most
citrus fruit
is high in both pectin and acidity, so setting marmalades and citrus
jellies is
pretty straightforward. Most recipes involve a couple of lemons anyway,
which
always helps. There are
basically three ways to do this, all of which are covered in this
article :
A
Basic Guide To Jam & Jelly Making
Storage
Marmalade, like jams and
jellies, should be
kept in a cool, dry, and preferably dark place. A pantry cupboard is
ideal.
Jar
size :
12-16oz for peel marmalades and
shreds;
8-12oz for jelly.
Equipment
:
Clean, washed empty jars with
screw lids
For dealing with raw fruit :
Weighing scales
Knives
Chopping board, plate, bowl
For making the marmalade :
Large [stainless steel] pan
Long-handled wooden spoon
Muslin bag / small jelly bag / clean cotton
hanky for boiling up pips and removing easily
For peel marmalades :
and
To slice up cooked fruit :
Fish slice or slotted spoon for removing
fruit from pan
Plate or basin to put fruit on before
slicing
Sharp knife and fork to slice fruit as
thin
as you want it
For shred and jelly marmalades :
Larger muslin or jelly bag
Sieve for rinsing shreds (if using)
Large basin for straining juice into
Clean roasting tin or casserole dish (for
warming sugar)
To skim off scum :
A tea / dinner plate
Slotted or similar spoon, or any spoon
To check setting point :
A cold tea plate
A teaspoon
To pot marmalade into jars,
without too
much mess :
A ladle
A gravy boat, jug, or anything with a good
wide spout
A tea towel to get hot jars out of oven
and
hold them while filling with hot jam
Adhesive labels
PEEL
MARMALADES
Yield:
As a general rule of thumb, the yield for peel
marmalades will be
5/3 of the amount of sugar used. So for the recipes below, it will be
approximately 5/3 x 4 = 20/3 = 6 2/3 x 1lb = 6 2/3 lbs. So you'll need
six
one-pound jars + one 12oz jar, or nine 12oz jars, or an equivalent
combination.
Seville
Orange Marmalade [January/February] (and General Method for peel
versions)
2lb / 1kg Seville oranges
4lb / 2kg white granulated sugar
2½ - 4pts / 1.5 - 2 litres water
juice of 1 large or 2 small lemons
1.Wash the fruit and
scrub well. Sevilles tend to be unwaxed anyway, so less scrubbing
needed than for other citrus.
2.Cut fruit into
quarters, take out the pips*, put into jelly bag.
3.Put fruit, lemon
juice, and water into pan; hang the bag of pips in the water (tie to
pan handle with string)
4.Cook gently for
about 2 hours till fruit is soft, with the lid off.
5.Take out bag of
pips, and squeeze well into the pan. Discard pips.
6.Put the radio or
some music on; get your nearest and dearest to help (optional**)
7.Fish out the
quartered fruit with the fish slice
8.Cut up the fruit
into thin slices (the width and length you want the peel to be, and as
much of it as you want***
9.Put the sugar, jars
and lids into a low oven (lowest gas mark, or <100C) to warm
10.Return sliced peel
to the pan.
11.Warm the liquid,
peel and pith, add the sugar****, and stir over a low heat till
completely dissolved.
12.Bring to the boil
rapidly, stirring occasionally, until setting point is reached (see
section on Setting Point)*****
13.Take pan off the
heat, skim with slotted spoon if necessary, leave to stand until a skin
forms on the top
14.Stir the peel into
the marmalade.
15.Pot into warmed,
clean jars
16.Put the lids on
immediately while hot, and close.
17.Either close
tightly now to obtain an airtight seal, or wait till completely cold to
do this.
18.Leave to stand
until cold; close tightly if not already done.
19.Label with type of
fruit and date
Notes,
*Seville oranges contain a lot of
pips, so you may find it easier
to cut out the central flesh and pips together and put the lot into the
muslin
bag, which you put in a bowl to catch and save what drips through. Do
the
cutting on a plate not a wooden chopping board, so as to retain the
juice that
results, and tip this back into the pan. Another way of achieving the
same end
is to halve and squeeze the oranges on a juicer, pour the juice
(Sevilles are
not very juicy) into the pan, put the pips and pith into the bag, then
cut the
halves in half and add to the pan.
**This is the point at which my
father
would set my mother and I to work at the kitchen table, slicing fruit
peel for
what seemed like, and probably was, hours. But then he was making 30lb
of
marmalade at a time, twice a year : Seville in winter, grapefruit in
summer. We
ate a serious amount of marmalade, and we also swapped it for our
neighbours'
strawberry jam !
*** This is always smaller than
you think
you will want it. It may help if you scrape some of the pith away
before
slicing, which gives you a better view of the peel you are cutting.
Just stick
the pith back into the pan. You don't have to use all
the peel if you don't want to, or if you get very bored.
Slicing up and using only half or two-thirds of the fruit is OK. You
can use
the rest of the fruit for something else (see later).
****If you want dark marmalade,
you can add
a tablespoonful of black treacle with the sugar.
*****This should in theory only
take 20-25
minutes, but will take longer if making a larger batch size.
Grapefruit
Marmalade [all year round]
1 ½ lb / 750g grapefruit (you could try
pink or ruby too, for a change]
½ lb / 8oz lemons
4lb / 2kg white granulated sugar
2½ - 4pts / 1.5 - 2 litres
water
Method
: as for Seville Orange above
Mixed
Fruit Marmalade [all year round]
2 sweet
(ordinary) oranges
1 grapefruit
2 lemons
4lb / 2kg white granulated sugar
2½ - 4pts / 1.5 - 2 litres water
Method
: as for Seville Orange above
Lemon
Marmalade [all year, best in late summer]
2lb / 1 kg lemons (worth using unwaxed)
4lb / 2kg white granulated sugar
2½ - 4pts / 1.5 - 2 litres water
Method : as for Seville Orange
above
Note : lemon marmalade turns
out orange-coloured.
Forget about trying to achieve the luminous green of shop-bought.
Lime
Marmalade [late summer, try Asian or Afro-Caribbean greengrocers for
whole
boxes of limes]
2lb / 1kg limes
4lb / 2kg white granulated sugar
2½ - 4pts / 1.5 - 2 litres water
juice of 1 large or 2 small lemons
Method : as for Seville Orange
above. Lime
pips should not be included, as they have a bitter taste when cooked,
although
limes tend not to have pips anyway.
Note : lime marmalade turns out
orange-coloured
too. Forget about the luminous yellow-green of shop-bought. By the way,
have
you noticed that bought lemon shred marmalade is greener than the lime
variety
?
Minced Seville Orange Marmalade
If slicing citrus peel
isn't your idea of fun, or you haven't got time, you could always use
mechanical assistance to deal with the fruit. The end result tends to
be
chunkier (cubed-effect), more opaque and paler overall.
2lb
/ 1kg Seville oranges
1
large / 2 small lemons
4lb
/ 2kg sugar
4pts
/ 2.3litres water
1.
Wash the fruit and scrub well.
2.
Halve the fruit (lemons too), squeeze out the pips, put into jelly bag.
3.
Put lemon juice, and water into pan; hang the bag of pips in the water
(tie to
pan handle with string).
4.
Put oranges through a mincer or food processor, add to pan.
5.
Leave to stand 24 hours.
6.
Cook gently for about 15 mins, with the lid on.
7.
Take the lid off, cook gently for 1 hour with the lid off, until
reduced to
half original volume.
8.
Take out bag of pips, and squeeze well into the pan. Discard pips.
9.
Put the sugar, jars and lids into a low oven (lowest gas mark, or
<100C) to
warm
10.
Add the sugar to the pan, and stir over a low heat till completely
dissolved.
11.
Bring to the boil rapidly, stirring occasionally, until setting point
is
reached (see section on Setting Point)
12.
Take pan off the heat, skim with slotted spoon if necessary, leave to
stand
until a skin forms on the top
13.
Stir the peel into the marmalade.
14.
Pot into warmed, clean jars.
15.
Put the lids on immediately while hot, and close.
16.
Either close tightly now to obtain an airtight seal, or wait till
completely
cold to do this.
17.
Leave to stand until cold; close tightly if not already done.
18.
Label with type of fruit and date.
You
can also make quince or apricot
'marmalades', indeed the word marmalde comes from the Portuguese word
for quince, marmelo.
JELLY
AND SHRED MARMALADES
Seville
Orange Shred or Jelly Marmalade
2lb / 1kg Seville
oranges
juice of 2 lemons
3lb / 1.25kg white granulated sugar
4 ½ pts water
A few
coriander seeds boiled in the pip bag
(shred version) or with the fruit (jelly version) can be good.
Lemon
Shred or Jelly Marmalade
2lb / 1kg lemons
3lb / 1.25kg white granulated sugar
4 ½
pts water
Lime
Shred or Jelly Marmalade
2lb / 1kg limes
juice of 2 lemons
3lb / 1.25kg white granulated sugar
4 ½ pts water
Tangerine
Shred or Jelly Marmalade
1 ½ lb / 1.25kg tangerines
½ a grapefruit and 1 large / 2 small lemons
2lb / 1 kg white granulated sugar
4pts / 2 litres water
If making the shred version,
only use the
tangerine peel or the flavour will be overwhelmed by grapefruit and
lemon.
Shred
Method
1.Wash and scrub the
fruit well.
2.Peel 3 (oranges) or
4 (lime or lemon) of the fruits thinly
3.Shred this peel
finely and put in muslin bag
4.Cut up the rest of
the fruit roughly (into eight pieces will do), including the peeled
ones.
5.Put fruit, lemon
juice and water into pan, and hang the shreds in their bag in the water
6.Cook gently till
soft (about 2 hours), removing shred bag after 1 hour.
7.Rinse the shreds in
cold water in a sieve.
8.Strain the pan
contents through a larger jelly bag, scalded in boiling water to
sterilize, and leave to drip for about 1 hour.
9.Set sugar, jars and
lids to warm in a low oven (lowest gas mark, or <100C) to warm
10.Return strained
liquid to the pan.
11.Warm the liquid,
add the sugar, and stir over a low heat till completely dissolved.
12.Bring to the boil
rapidly, stirring occasionally, until setting point is almost reached
(see section on Setting Point)
13.Take pan off the
heat, stir in the rinsed shreds
14.Bring to setting
point.
15.Pot into warmed,
clean jars
16.Put the lids on
immediately while hot, and close.
17.Either close
tightly now to obtain an airtight seal, or wait till completely cold to
do this.
18.Leave to stand
until cold; close tightly if not already done.
19.Label with type of
fruit and date
Jelly
Method
1.Wash and scrub the
fruit well.
2.Cut the fruit up
roughly (into eight pieces will do).
3.Put fruit, lemon
juice and water into pan.
4.Cook gently till
soft (about 2 hours).
5.Strain the pan
contents through a medium/large jelly bag, scalded in boiling water to
sterilize, and leave to drip for about 1 hour.
6.Set sugar, jars and
lids to warm in a low oven (lowest gas mark, or <100C) to warm
7.Return strained
liquid to the pan.
8.Warm the liquid,
add the sugar, and stir over a low heat till completely dissolved.
9.Bring to the boil
rapidly, stirring occasionally, until setting point is reached (see
section on Setting Point)
10.Pot into warmed,
clean jars
11.Put the lids on
immediately while hot, and close.
12.Either close
tightly now to obtain an airtight seal, or wait till completely cold to
do this.
13.Leave to stand
until cold; close tightly if not already done.
14.Label with type of
fruit and date
OTHER
THINGS TO DO WITH SEVILLE ORANGES
Seville
Orange Brandy – Downsizer Cointreau
Buy a kilo of
Sevilles, make a batch of marmalade using imperial measures (2lb fruit)
and keep 2 or 3 fruits back. OR use up the cooked fruit you have not
shredded or sliced. OR just buy 2 or 3 if you can get them loose.
1.Slice fruit
thickly, and put into one large jar or two medium ex-mayo jars
[well-cleaned] with 10 coriander seeds and a piece of cinnamon stick
(spices optional), add 4 - 8oz white sugar, depending on your taste,
and a bottle of brandy (French)
2.Leave to mature for
3 months, shaking daily for the first week, then weekly until all the
sugar is dissolved.
3.Strain, first
through a sieve, then through a jelly bag, cotton hanky, or coffee
filter paper. Using cooked fruit will give a much cloudier-looking
result, but still tastes fine.
4.Return to original
bottle, though yield will be slightly more than you started with, so it
won't all fit back in.
What a shame !
Sample the extra, or store in a small jar or bottle.
A COUPLE OF THINGS TO DO WITH MARMALADE
Marmalade can be
added to sauces / gravies / casseroles involving duck or goose.
Marigold's
Marmalade Cake (recipe contributed by Marigold)
Seeing
Stacey's post about
Seville orange season reminded me of this super-easy cake recipe made
with
marmalade:
Ingredients
8 oz plain wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 oz well-softened butter (or, if you must, soft margarine)
3oz sugar
2 eggs
heaped tablespoons marmalade
Method<
1. Place
all ingredients in a bowl and whiz with a hand-held cake mixer for 15-20
seconds.
2. Decant into a
greased/lined 2lb loaf tin and bake at 150° for about an hour.
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