Marmalade

MarmaladeI have just undergone my yearly attempt to keep my father-in-law happy…making marmalade. I could tell you that I whipped up this batch of marmalade with ease, but that would be a lie. What a nightmare it’s been to produce these 8 bottles of golden marmalade! After traveling back from Melbourne after a long lunch I started the first batch at 9pm on a Sunday. I had pilfered Dad’s orange tree just before we jumped in the car. According to Stephanie Alexander you must cook the oranges immediately, so I did. The next evening, after work, I added the sugar to cook the marmalade until a setting point. I thought I had reached it…clearly not. Two nights later, I had to be in Melbourne for a seminar for work on the Tuesday night, I went to re-set the jam by cooking it down some more. By this stage it was getting past caramelized and bordering on burnt. It still didn’t set! The icing on the cake came the next day when I decided to give up and start again, I still had HEAPS of oranges left. I was transferring the jam from the jars to the bin via plastic bags. Obviously my jam was too heavy for the bag…it ended up all over the verandah. Sigh. Moving right along…

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My second batch seems to have worked well! I must admit that I did add some Jamsetta…I couldn’t face the disappointment a second time. Andy was given some excellent advice from the coffee van man. The reason why my marmalade probably wasn’t setting was because the pectin content of the fruit wasn’t high enough. The older the fruit, the higher the pectin content. The fruit I was using from Dad’s tree, although ripe, probably could have done with a little longer on the tree for marmalade. Aunty Sue also got some advice from her brains trust on the issue…Boolarra wool group. I think I needed more sugar according to their advice.

Anyway, with my marmalade making over for another year, here is what I found triumphant. I have adapted this recipe from Stephanie Alexander’s Seville Marmalade recipe. I found the water content too high in that recipe so have adjusted to what worked for me.

Ingredient
1kg prepared oranges
3L of water per 1kg of prepared fruit
1/2 tsp of salt per 1kg of prepared fruit
Sugar – LOTS! The amount will depend on the quantity of fruit, see method.

Method

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERACut the oranges in half and remove the pith with a small paring knife. Thinly slice the oranges (I used a mandolin) and place them in a large pot, measuring as you go. Once you have all your fruit add 1.5 litres of water per 500 g of prepared fruit. On the stove, bring to the boil and simmer until the rind is soft – this should take a bit over an hour, but keep an eye on it. Let this sit overnight in the pot or a covered stainless steel bowl.

 

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThe next day, add sugar to the existing orange mix in equal quantities. I use cup measurements, with my quantities I had 9 cups of prepared fruit, including liquid, so I added 9 cups of sugar. Cook for about half an hour. Mine still wasn’t setting so I added some Jamsetta at this point, follow the instructions on the packet. To check whether your marmalade is set, place a couple of saucers in the freezer. When ready to test the marmalade take the saucer out of the freezer and put a teaspoon of the marmalade onto the saucer. After 30 seconds draw your finger through the marmalade – if it’s going to set properly the two sides of marmalade you’ve created shouldn’t join up together.

Once the marmalade is ready, pour into sterilized jars. (I had the most delightful experience shopping for jars in a second hand shop in Warragul – beautiful assistants, old school music, amazing collection of second hand goods – the jars were the cleanest jars I’ve seen! A seriously delightly lunch break from work). To sterilize, I boil the jar lids and put my clean jars in a hot oven for at least 10 minutes.

Enjoy this marmalade on a slice of fresh sourdough or a croissant…heaven.

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