Marmalade 2 - the revisit....

Batch no.2.
After research, discussion, tips from here :) i made a second batch of Marmalde. Please don't make the assumption that i *think* about anything before i go ahead and try it - the Marmalade being a prime example.... so i tried a completely different method. This is alot cleaner and clearer than before. Sunshiney and bright with some peel included and the odd Star Anise in each jar. The little black specs are vanilla pod seeds....

I boiled up about 7 Seville Oranges and 1 normal in a big ole chutney pan.

Covered the fruit with about 2 litres of water and simmer for 1.5 hours or there-on.

I ADDED to the water, with the fruit, before boiling:

1 Vanilla Pod

A large cube chopped ginger

3 Star Anise

1 Broken Cinnamon Stick

10 - 15 Cloves

Then - i strained the liquid and only put the items BACK into the mix, that i wanted to keep, so:

Scraped out flesh of the oranges to put back in.

Chopped some peel - so nice and soft now they had been boiled and placed back in the pan.

Star Anise back in the pan.


It was a quicker and easier method by far and retained so much of the flavour of my little extras - especially the vanilla. I was scared the soft vanilla taste would get drowned in Seville Orange bittreness but it warms through sensationally.

All the liquid was then boiled up for 20 mins or so? i kept a Jam thermometer in the pan to check. I boiled it up with 1kg of sugar - granulated, as the added pectin in Jam Sugar was uneneccasry for these fruits.

TASTE - done

LOOK - happy with

CONSISTENCY - still a little runny and more sugar would have helped make this thicker but i didn't want the flavour any sweeter.

Friends and family decided they could live with the runnier consistency as opposed to a wobbly jelly type. I caught someone spooning the stuff into their mouth direct from the fridge... i think that was a seal of approval?

Thanks for all your help peoples xxx

St Clements Marmalade...

Orange and Lemon Marmalade = St Clements...
I love to make Jams & Chutneys & Pickles & Cordials... and the more i make them, the less i can bear to buy them from shops. I had a mammoth making session the other day. My nanna is in a position right now where she needs and deserves, a lot of looking after. The first of her favourite things i made was the Marmalade.
Recipe used from my LAKELAND Preserves & Pickles Book (i love it) but it made soooo many jars...

I think this: was one one of my problems. I don't like coarse Marmalade with lots of peel but i know that the peel is what gives it the bitter flavour. So i juiced all my fruits and mixed some of the peel 'waste' into the juice.

This led to much more juice than the recipe anticipated. It was quicker and easier for me this way but i needed more sugar to boil the liquid into a jelly. *lesson Learned*

And i realised too late the recipe made milllllliiiioooonnns ofg jars!

So i will be out and about next week delivering pots of Marmalade to family members (you've been warned family)

OOoohhh the satisfaction....

P.s. On delivery to my nanna she told me about a great product called "marmamaid".... an alternative to all those Seville Oranges. I will investigate.