It's orange season, and a great time for a few jars, writes Mick Kelly
I discovered the joys of making jams and chutneys last autumn, when I had a glut of fruit and veg in the garden and too much time on my hands. The last jar is gone so I decided to try my hand at marmalade making.
For two reasons, this is the best time of year to make marmalade: first that fresh, intense orangey fragrance can bring some cheer to gloomy winter mornings. Second, your local supermarket should be stocking mega-bitter Seville oranges now, and they are the best for marmalade making. The season for Seville oranges is short, from December to February, so either make enough to last you the year, or freeze some oranges.
Recipes for marmalade are easy to remember. All you are adding is sugar and water. The recipe I followed was: 1.5kg of oranges, 3 litres of water and 3kgs of sugar, which makes about 20 jars.
I began by boiling the oranges whole in the water for about two hours, until the skin was soft, and then set them aside to cool. Then I cut them in half and scooped out the pips - this was messy because all the pith that clings to the pips is full of pectin and needs to be retained. I stooped over a chopping board with a knife for about 45 minutes, separating pith from pip.
You are supposed to finely chop the peel but I couldn't be bothered with this and threw the oranges in to a food processor instead. This seemed to work okay. I put the pips in a muslin bag which went back in the water with the pith and the peel. Finally, I added the sugar , which had been warmed gently. Any illusions about marmalade being healthy disappear when you see how much sugar is added. I brought it gradually to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. It was to be boiled only for about five to 10 minutes. Exactly how long is determined by a disappointingly subjective "set-test": you put some on a cold saucer, and if it wrinkles when you prod it with your finger (it should form a skin), it's ready.
After much prodding, I ladled it in to sterilised jars. Messy kitchen, extensive clean-up job and first-degree burns aside, it was a lot of fun. The finished product looked nice in the jars, but was disturbingly runny. I called the chef who gave me the recipe, for a post-mortem. "Did you use Sureset sugar?" he asked. "It has a higher pectin contect so it's more reliable. If you use ordinary sugar, invest in a sugar thermometer so you can be sure it's up to a high enough temperature to reach setting point." If it's still too runny, try reboiling it to lower the moisture content.
"Never mind," said Mrs Kelly sympathetically: "We can have it in the mornings as juice."