Well fired marmalade anyone ?

Round about this time of year 2 things happen – Seville oranges start appearing in the shops and my WordPress subscription comes up for renewal.

For the former it heralds the start of marmalade season and as I have recently joined the ranks of dedicated marmalade makers, I scour the shops for the best oranges to make marmalade in the short winter window before the bitter Sevilles vanish.

I have written before about my adventures in marmalade making so not much to report there other than to say this year I got a bit over enthusiastic when buying oranges and so might have to consider opening a marmalade emporium. Friends will certainly be receiving marmalade as gifts this year regardless of the occasion.

With a few years of marmalading under my belt, and some citrus experimentation, I have settled on a couple of preferred recipes.

The first is from Vivien Lloyd acquired after attending one of her marmalade masterclasses, and also available in her excellent book First Preserves. There is a quirky tip that involves weighing the pan after the initial long simmer, then reducing the volume until you reach a weight of pan plus 1.4kg. It might seem an unnecessary fiddle but is pretty foolproof.

The other recipe I use is based on advice from Jaki at Perfectly Preserved using 1kg of fruit and 1.5/ 1.75kg of sugar – I do a few variations but always include Sevilles & add blood oranges or sweet oranges or some combination.

Jaki does not ask you to weigh the pan but instead after the long simmer, finish with 30 minutes boiling to reduce the volume of liquid.

In both approaches the reduced volume of liquid allows for a faster next stage and I think gives a fresher taste.

Both of these make quite small quantities ( 4-6 jars for Viviens recipe & 9 jars for Jaki’s ) which I prefer because it avoid the fear factor of overflowing hot sugar and it’s more controllable.

Having used Vivien’s recipe a few times, I might have become a bit too casual and stopped paying attention at each stage because I almost burned the last batch. But in the spirit of many of the best inventions I plan to market this slightly burnt version as ‘well fired’ marmalade – and maybe a collaboration with Morton’s or other Scottish burnt rolls could be on the horizon*

The WordPress nudge for my annual renewal arrives along with the Seville oranges, and in contrast to my efficient marmalade production, serves as a reminder that 12 months have elapsed since I last wrote anything on the blog.

At $100 a year, like an unused gym membership or a rarely worn designer sale bargain, my once-a-year posting about marmalade has a very high cost per wear.

It’s a new year, so as with many resolutions, I will cough up the dollars and resolve to fill these electronic pages more than just annually.

Look out for my – ‘coming soon’ – post on Spring fruit curds 🙂

*well fired Scottish rolls are a much-loved thing