Seville Orange Marmalade

With not much going on in the kitchen garden, it was time to get excited about citrus season at Feel Good Gardens and make some marmalade. Seville oranges are in season in January and February and bring bright zesty aromas to your kitchen to liven up even the dreariest late-winter day.

The great thing about making your own marmalade is you can really customise your shred; fine, medium, thick or a bit of a mix you decide. You can also try making this recipe with different sugars, consider using some darker sugar if you want to make a traditional Oxford style marmalade.

Marmalade makes for a great gift at any time of year and stores well. This recipe makes around 12 small jars (180ml), we find this is a great gift size. But any sized jars will do, this recipe makes about 2.5litres or marmalade total.

Seville oranges can be frozen whole until you are ready to use them. Good to know if you see them on offer at the end of the season.

Ingredients

1.5kg Seville Oranges

3kg Granulated Sugar (use 50% dark muscavado sugar for an Oxford style marmalade)

Juice of 2 Lemons

Additional water: 3.5litres

Equipment required

Chopping board, Chefs knife, Spoon

Juicer

Prep bowl and Muslin Cloth for jam/jelly

Measuring Jug

Large Stainless steel pan

Jam Thermometer/ Plates in freezer

Spoon/ladle for pan

Jam Funnel and Jam Jars up to 2,500ml total volume (eg 14 x 180ml jam jars)

Preparation:

• Sterilise Jam jars in boiling water and leave in the oven on a low heat to keep warm.

• Sterilise lids in boiling water and sterilise all implements 

• Wash and scrub the seville oranges leave to dry

• Line a prep bowl with your jam muslin.

1. Add 3.5litres of water to your pan and put on a low heat, while you prepare your fruit.

2. Halve the oranges and squeeze out the juice and pips into a piece of muslin. Scrape out any extra membrane/pith using a spoon and add. Add the juice of 2 lemons. Tie the muslin corners together and add to the pan along with any juice. 

3. Shred oranges to desired thickness, by hand or with a food processor and add to the pan.

4. Bring the pan slowly to a boil and then leave to simmer gently for around 2 hours. The peel should then be soft and the volume of the liquid should be reduced by half.

5. Remove the muslin bag from the pan and leave to cool. Once cool, squeeze out any juices and add these back to the pan. 

6. Add sugar to the pan and stir until completely dissolved. Bring marmalade to a boil and then boil rapidly for about 15 minutes, until the jam reaches setting point (105c). You can check the set by putting a teaspoon of marmalade onto a cold saucer to check the consistency. 

7. Once you are happy with the set, leave the marmalade to cool for 15mins, this helps to keep the peel evenly distributed. 

8. Ladle the marmalade into the warmed, sterilised jars and add the lid immediately. 

9. Store in a cool dark place and refrigerate after opening.