Seville Orange Marmalade

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large preserving pan or wide stockpot (at least 5 litres)
• •Square of muslin and string
• •Sharp knife for shredding peel
• •Wooden spoon
• •6-8 sterilized jam jars with lids
• •Ladle and jam funnel
• •Cold saucer for set test

Instructions

1. 1

   Wash and halve the fruit

   Scrub the oranges under cold water to wake them up. Halve each one and squeeze the juice into a large preserving pan, catching the pips and any stringy pulp in a sieve as you go. Don't be precious about it. Scoop the spent halves into a bowl and set them aside. The pips are gold here, full of pectin, so keep every one.

   Seville oranges have a brief season, usually January and into early February. If you can't find them, this isn't a recipe to fudge with sweet oranges. Wait until next year. The bitterness is the whole point.
2. 2

   Bag the pips

   Tie all the pips and any membrane scraped from the squeezed halves into a square of muslin. Add the lemon pips too. This little bundle is what gives the marmalade its set, so tie it well and leave a long tail of string so you can fish it out later.

3. 3

   Shred the peel

   Take the squeezed orange halves and, using a sharp knife, cut them into shreds. Thick or thin, your choice. I like mine somewhere in between, the kind that sits on toast without sliding off. There's no need to scrape the white pith away. It softens completely in the cooking and adds body. This is the slow part. Put the radio on.

4. 4

   Soak overnight

   Tip the shredded peel and the orange juice into the preserving pan. Add the cold water and the muslin bag of pips, pushing it down into the liquid. Cover and leave overnight, or for at least eight hours. The peel needs time to soften and the water needs time to draw out the pectin from the pips. Don't skip this. Marmalade doesn't reward shortcuts.

5. 5

   Simmer until tender

   The next day, bring the pan to a gentle simmer over a medium heat. Let it bubble away, lid off, for about two hours. The peel should soften completely. You'll know it's ready when you can crush a piece between your finger and thumb without resistance. If there's any bite left, keep going. Hard peel in finished marmalade is a small heartbreak.

6. 6

   Add the sugar

   Lift out the muslin bag and squeeze it hard against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon. All that thick, gloopy liquid coming out is pure pectin. Don't waste a drop. Add the sugar and the lemon juice. Stir over a low heat until every grain of sugar has dissolved. Run a spoon along the bottom of the pan; if you feel grit, it isn't ready. Patience here saves you from grainy marmalade later.

   Warm the sugar in a low oven for ten minutes before adding it. It dissolves faster and the boil keeps going without stalling.
7. 7

   Boil hard for the set

   Now turn the heat right up. The marmalade needs to come to a proper rolling boil, the kind that doesn't calm down when you stir it. This is where the kitchen really starts to smell of citrus, sharp and sweet and a little intoxicating. After about ten minutes, start testing for a set. Drop a teaspoon of marmalade onto a cold saucer (keep one in the freezer), wait thirty seconds, then push it with your fingertip. If it wrinkles, you're there. If it's still loose, boil for another few minutes and try again.

8. 8

   Skim and rest

   When you have a set, take the pan off the heat. If there's any scum on the surface, stir in a small knob of butter and it'll dissolve away. Let the marmalade sit in the pan for ten or fifteen minutes. This stops the peel from rising to the top of the jars and giving you a stripe of clear jelly underneath. A small thing, but the kind of detail that makes a homemade jar feel proper.

9. 9

   Pot up

   Ladle the marmalade into warm, sterilized jars, right up to the rim. Seal immediately with the lids. As they cool, you'll hear the lids pop down one by one, the small, satisfying sound of a job done. Label them with the date. You'll be glad in October when you find a forgotten jar at the back of the cupboard.

   Sterilize jars by washing in hot soapy water, rinsing, and drying in a low oven (140C) for fifteen minutes. The jars need to be hot when you fill them, or they'll crack.

Chef Tips

• •The pips are everything. They hold all the pectin, which is what gives marmalade its set. Don't even think about throwing them away. Tie them in muslin and let them work for you in the pan.
• •A cold saucer in the freezer is the only set test you need. Forget thermometers and jam sugar. Drop a spoonful on, wait, push it with a finger. If it wrinkles, it's done. If it doesn't, keep going. Your eyes know more than any gadget.
• •Don't overfill the pan. Marmalade rises dramatically when it boils, sometimes alarmingly so, and a pan more than half full is asking for a sticky kitchen floor. A wide preserving pan is worth its weight here.
• •The marmalade will keep, unopened, for at least a year in a cool, dark cupboard. Once you open a jar, refrigerate and use within a month. Though in my house no jar lasts that long.
• •Tie a ribbon around a jar and give it as a present. People who don't even like marmalade will be touched by it. There's something about a homemade label that makes a jar feel like a small letter.

Advance Preparation

• •The shredded peel and pips can be soaked overnight, which is essential rather than optional. Plan for a two-day project: soak on day one, cook and pot on day two.
• •Sealed jars keep for at least twelve months in a cool, dark cupboard. The flavour deepens and mellows over the first month or so, becoming rounder and less aggressively bitter.
• •Once opened, store in the refrigerator and use within four weeks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 15g)