Seville Marmalade Recipe
Feb 06, 2010
The seville oranges are now in the shops and we are bang in the middle of our marmalade making season.
Our local paper (The Western Morning News) has today run a double page spread on our marmalade and included our recipe for what I consider to be our best (personal taste...I like it bitter) marmalade. It only seemed fair to share it with other makers or potential makers and I give it to you here!
Though I will rue saying it, this is probably the easiest recipe you will find to ensure a good result...........if you have problems please contact me to discuss!
Timings: initial cooking approx 40-50 mins once brought to the boil
preparing the fruit 40mins
final cooking time 30mins from coming to a rolling boil
You will need enough jars and lids for 6kg/13lbs of marmalade. This recipe can be halved (shorten final cooking time by 5 mins before testing ) but it is only making 26 half pound jars, so think of it as one for every fortnight of the year.
Seville Marmalade
This recipe won me a Great Taste Gold Award in 200
6 6lbs/2.7kg Seville oranges
3 large lemons
6 ½ pints/3.75 litres water
Granulated sugar (Have at least three packets to hand, the exact quantity will depend on the juice content of the fruit, see recipe)
Wash the fruit to remove all dust and dirt. Seville orange skins are not treated but lemons often are. If you can’t get unwaxed lemons, scrub them in hot soapy water and rinse.
Cooking the fruit whole makes the skins easier to cut. Put the whole fruit in a saucepan, lemons on the bottom, cover with the water and bring to the boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and cover.
After about 20 – 30 minutes turn the fruit over so the lemons are at the top and the top fruit submerged. Simmer for a further 20mins. They are done when a knife pierces the orange skin with little resistance.
Take off the heat, keep lid on and allow to go cold, preferably overnight.
Keep all the cooking water. Cut the fruit in half and squeeze. You can use an electric squeezer or scoop out the flesh with a spoon and fork. Add the pulp and juice to the cooking water but discard all pips.
Slice each half-orange skin in half again, then cut width-ways into strips as thick or thin as you like. Add the shredded skin to the reserved juice, cooking water and measure. For each pint of this mixture, you will need one 1lb/454g sugar.
Return the prepared fruit mix to the saucepan and add the sugar. Bring to a rolling boil and boil for 30 minutes only.
Test for a set: with a metal spoon take a small sample of the liquid, dribble a little onto a saucer placing the spoon and the saucer in the fridge for a few mins. One or other of the samples should wrinkle when nudged with your finger .
Stir, then let the marmalade stand for 15 minutes before potting for even distribution of peel. A skin may start to form which can be stirred in before potting. If the wrinkle test didn’t work and no skin starts to form, re boil for no more than 5 mins.
Pour into sterilised jars and seal immediately.
Good luck and happy marmalade making