Marmalade

[Melcombe]

Seville orange marmalade is one of life's pleasures.

It is however almost impossible to find any commercial manufacturer who does a decent job - especially if you have had a chance to compare it with what you can make yourself.

The very short Seville orange season has begun (in the Northern Hemisphere) and the race is on to corral fruit sugar and water (nothing else needed) into food fit for a king.

If you have access to the oranges, a kitchen and some time to spare, you might consider a recipe that I have refined from one I obtained some years ago.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zuzwicpob92fc ... e.pdf?dl=0

I make 20Kg a year. Half to give to friends, half for me.

[alden]

Melcombe

Thanks for the recipe. I have two wild orange trees that kick out tons of fruit that normally goes to waste. Will give your recipe a try.

Sugar is a big non starter for me. I would have to start a new wardrobe, see? Have your tried fructose as a substitute ever?

Cheers

[Concordia]

Honey, perhaps?

[alden]

Honey=Sugar=New Bespoke Wardrobe=$$$$$$$$$$

[Rob O]

Rather than abstaining from the miracle of home made seville marmalade on toasted sourdough bread with normandy butter, I recommend fasting every Monday and the regular use of a treadmill.

[alden]

Bread? Butter? Haven't touched them for years.

Every French mother teaches her children: "Bread makes you fat!" She is right.

My strategy is to keep the calories out so there is less to burn and less to carry around.

Cheers

[couch]

Melcombe, many thanks for this detailed recipe and instructions. While I am, like Michael, circumspect about my intake of processed carbs, I do indulge in toast and marmalade once a week or so. It would be fun to try this, and as you say, it would make a very thoughtful gift.

[Melcombe]

I have two wild orange trees that kick out tons of fruit that normally goes to waste. Will give your recipe a try.

Should work provided they are bitter oranges - dessert oranges aren't sufficiently strongly flavoured. Even with my 2:1 recipe, the bitterness and aroma of the Sevilles comes right through.

I'd guess that if they're not quite bitter enough, you could substitute some lemons in as well - especially some of the more perfumed varieties (I've just done a batch with bergamot X lemons) - lemon also has much more natural pectin in it for setting the product.

Sugar is a big non starter for me. I would have to start a new wardrobe, see? Have your tried fructose as a substitute ever?

I haven't yet tried a substitute. The purpose of the sugar is preservation rather than what it adds to taste - although with full strength Sevilles, the sweetness is certainly cut.

It would merit some serious experimentation 'though - I suspect that unopened jars would be ok since they are sterile when filled (straight from the dishwasher plus marmalade at about 70 degrees celsius down from 105+), but once opened they might spoil?

I wonder if adding some honey to a lower sugar version would act as an antibacterial? If so, that would be a real help.

I'd only add that you don't have to be a total marmalade hog like me to appreciate the finished article. The adapted recipe I use creates something with a very intense flavour indeed, much more than most commercial alternatives. Theres also a full complement of peel in the stuff - which just bursts with the essential oils - so actually you can use only a tiny amount and still get a full hit of orangey loveliness with a fraction of the calories of shop-bought versions.

Here's a report from the front line.

1 - Getting to the foamy stage..



2 - And bottled..

[alden]

Melcombe

Looks great.

We are men of the cloth. I have about a hundred fruit trees around my house. In the summer months, in fact, all summer long I am making preserves, jams and marmalades of all kinds.

I use a French copper pan called a bassine a confitures especially designed for making jam. It has a large surface area and is made in copper so it brings the fruit mix to the proper temperature quickly. It is the traditional way to make jams in France.

FullSizeRender by The London Lounge, on Flickr

Kittens like these pans as well.

The ripe fruit not used in jams is macerated in liters of French rum for a few years to make another delight called Punch. It is so much easier to make than good preserves, cures anything that ails you, but is probably not the best breakfast treat (for most people) !

I use natural fructose in my jams and it works great.

On the Continent we call them "bitter oranges", arancio amaro, or the latin name Citrus × aurantium. They were often used as ornamentals in patrician homes and estates.

Cheers