I've got a sneaky confession to make: I've never made marmalade. So I've asked Venetia Jeffcock (of Sauternes Jelly fame) to explain how to make a classic English breakfast marmalade.
She writes: "It's that time of year again and Seville oranges are on the shelves in supermarkets. I make marmalade every year - home made marmalade is so much better than anything you can buy in a shop, and makes a great present for your urban friends who eat breakfast. Marmalade is uniquely English; the oranges from Seville are grown almost exclusively for us Brits, and have a history dating all the way back to 1700. Seville oranges are bitter, so don't think that Navel's or Valencia's will work instead.
This recipe will be enough for seven to ten jars.
You will need:
2 lbs. Seville Oranges
1 lemon
4 lbs sugar
4 pints of water
muslin
A copper based pan (The copper helps to distribute the heat evenly).
some old jam jars (sterilised in the oven, or in a hot dishwasher).
Cut your muslin cloth into a large square (bigger than man's handkerchief and smaller than a headscarf) and place it in a medium size mixing bowl. Halve and juice the oranges (and the lemon).
Add the juice to the pan with the water and put the pips into the muslin. Scrape out all the pith left behind from the oranges and lemons, and add it to the the pips. This is important. The pips and pith contain the pectin which sets the marmalade.
Pull the top of the muslin together and tie it together with some string. Next, suspend the bag in the liquid from the handle of the pan. You will then need to chop the rind. How you do this is purely down to personal taste. I prefer little bits to big chunky bits- so you will need to cheat a bit and bung the rind into a blender. This way is so much quicker.
Add the rind to the pan and simmer for about two hours. To see if it's cooked enough, press some of the rind between your thumb and forefinger, and it should give right through. If it doesn't, keep simmering until it does. I always keep the lid partly on the pan as this prevents some of the evaporation.
Next, turn off the heat and remove the bag from the pan putting it on one side to cool - it will be seriously hot. Add the sugar to the pan, stir, and allow it to dissolve completely. Put about four saucers or redundant ashtrays into the freezer. When the bag has cooled a little, start squeezing out as much of the pectin as you can into the pan - it should seep out rather like sap. Bring to the boil and boil for twenty minutes.
Put a spoonful of the mixture on to one of the dishes in the freezer, and pop it back into the freezer for about five to ten seconds. Run your finger through the mixture in the dish. If the surface wrinkles, the marmalade is ready and will set; if not, repeat this process every fifteen minutes until you get a wrinkle. I find this a bit of a "moveable feast" - sometimes it can takes two attempts, other times as much as five or six.
Finally, pour the marmalade into the jars and allow it to cool. It should be set by the following morning. Label and store."
