Marmalade And Other Things To Make With Citrus FruitWritten by gilOK, 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 : StorageMarmalade, 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 For making the marmalade :Large [stainless steel] pan For peel marmalades :and To slice up cooked fruit :
Fish slice or slotted spoon for removing
fruit from pan For shred and jelly marmalades :
Larger muslin or jelly bag To skim off scum :
A tea / dinner plate To check setting point :
A cold tea plate To pot marmalade into jars, without too much mess :
A ladle PEEL MARMALADESYield: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 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] Method : as for Seville Orange above Mixed Fruit Marmalade [all year round]2 sweet
(ordinary) oranges Method : as for Seville Orange above Lemon Marmalade [all year, best in late summer]
2lb / 1 kg lemons (worth using unwaxed) 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 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 MarmaladeIf 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. 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 MARMALADESSeville Orange Shred or Jelly Marmalade2lb / 1kg Seville
oranges Lemon Shred or Jelly Marmalade
2lb / 1kg lemons Lime Shred or Jelly Marmalade2lb / 1kg limes Tangerine Shred or Jelly Marmalade
1 ½ lb / 1.25kg tangerines If making the shred version, only use the tangerine peel or the flavour will be overwhelmed by grapefruit and lemon. Shred Method1.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 Method1.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
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