Show us your marmalade.

[slowmotion]

Local greengrocer had Seville oranges at 90p / kilo, a damn sight cheaper than Waitrose, so I grabbed a couple of kilos or so.
Just in time, as another customer was loading up with at least 12 kilos.
Two batches made, one with laboriously thin-cut peel and white granulated sugar, for the laydeez, cooked up first so that it also removed the tang of the mango chutney for which the preserving pan was last used , and one with thick-cut peel and a proportion of demerara and muscovado sugar for the true marmalade connoysewers.
View attachment 567710

Splendid!

 

[Reynard]

I'll be getting going on some clementine marmalade. I picked up 3 kilos of clementines for 76p on yellow sticker the other night...

 

[slowmotion]

I finally got round to making the first of this year's batches. Five hours to make seven jars. It's strangely relaxing but it always gets a bit fraught in the last thirty minutes.

 

[neil_merseyside]

Running out of the magic potion we are having to do an emergency out of season batch using frozen oranges, and decided to try a different method, boiling oranges whole as this way is new to us. What is new to me, and I'd hope is perhaps new to the old hands here is my idea to use a pizza wheel to chop up the stewed skins - and my does it work well, no multi stacking to reduce knife passes, just rock that wheel back and forward and job done! Me being sad I actually timed dicing quartered orange stacks and also pizza wheeling the same amount - and it's probably a tad under twice as quick! and those odd slices that might be too long or wide take a second (if that) to divide down.

 

[geocycle]

I have not read the whole thread but has anyone mentioned Dalemain house near Ullswater? They have an annual marmalade festival and I believe supply Fortnums. You can buy some great marmalade all year around in their cafe Which is worth a visit if riding in the area.

 

[Reynard]

I scored a job lot of oranges and limes on yellow sticker this evening.

Guess what's on the agenda after the weekend...

 

[Poacher]

Seville orange season seems to get earlier each year. I bought just under 1.5 kg on 23/12/2021 and got around to using them yesterday.
Just one batch this year, a compromise on sugars (mainly granulated with just about 15% demerara) and peel (thinner than I usually like, but apparently more acceptable to others).

 

[oldwheels]

I cheat and use Mamade. There is some dark rum kicking around somewhere so might bung some of that in the next lot I make. Cannot drink alcohol but it would all be boiled off while making.

 

[Paulus]

I made my first 12 jars of Seville marmalade last year, with very good results. For Christmas MrsP bought me a proper jam/marmalade thermometer . The first 8 jars here. I intend to do some more this year and experiment with some whisky and brandy flavouring

 

[Reynard]

Fresh root ginger works well in marmalade generally. It adds a lovely warmth and bite.

I chop it up into small squares - that way you get these lovely little bits of gingeryness in among the bits of peel.

 

[mistyoptic]

At the bottom is this year’s offering, the other picture dates to 2013 and was of marmalade which was in the jar 4 hours after the fruit was picked

 

[mistyoptic]

Fresh root ginger works well in marmalade generally. It adds a lovely warmth and bite.

I chop it up into small squares - that way you get these lovely little bits of gingeryness in among the bits of peel.

I’ve used stem ginger in syrup, grated with a fine grater. That works well too.

Often do whisky, or rum with demerera sugar. Trying Disaronno this year

 

[Reynard]

I’ve used stem ginger in syrup, grated with a fine grater. That works well too.

Often do whisky, or rum with demerera sugar. Trying Disaronno this year

Mmmm, well I'm teetotal, so I don't tend to have alcohol knocking around. Other than a very dusty bottle of brandy that's trotted out annually to flambe the Xmas pud, that is...

I've always got fresh ginger in, because it goes so well with lots of things, both sweet and savoury.

 

[Poacher]

Just made a small batch of dark marmalade this year, with plenty of muscovado sugar as well as white. Left it simmering while I revamped the labels and hit the print command.
Laptop refused to recognise the printer, despite it being visible to the network. Took over an hour of messing about to get them to play nicely together, which involved wearing out the stairs carpet, as the printer lives upstairs in the craft room. If I'd known how long it would take I'd have taken the laptop up there and probably have hard-wired the connection.
Blank sheet emerged, probably due to the ink having dried up.
John Lewis had the ink cartridges at a reasonable price (only in comparison to other retailers - there's no way ink cartridges are reasonably priced). No black ones in stock online, but three shown as in stock locally, and one colour. Since not in stock online, couldn't order for click and collect, nor for colour, since only one locally. Decided to take bus into town next day.
Drained muslin bag of pips and pith, but made two stupid mistakes; firstly didn't press out enough pectin from bag, which might not have mattered if I'd boiled the liquid hard and secondly decided it must have had enough after an hour, despite not passing the cold saucer test.
Put it in jars anyway, only to find next morning that it hadn't set firm enough. Squeezed out more pectin and this time hard boiled it.
Reached setting point after about 15 minutes and refilled all but one of the jars.
Bus into town. John Lewis had no colour cartridge and just two black, despite stock levels still showing same as yesterday. Bought both black and, grudgingly, very expensive XL (hah!) colour, and let staff know what I thought of their stock control software.
And breathe.

 

[slowmotion]

Just made a small batch of dark marmalade this year, with plenty of muscovado sugar as well as white. Left it simmering while I revamped the labels and hit the print command.
Laptop refused to recognise the printer, despite it being visible to the network. Took over an hour of messing about to get them to play nicely together, which involved wearing out the stairs carpet, as the printer lives upstairs in the craft room. If I'd known how long it would take I'd have taken the laptop up there and probably have hard-wired the connection.
Blank sheet emerged, probably due to the ink having dried up.
John Lewis had the ink cartridges at a reasonable price (only in comparison to other retailers - there's no way ink cartridges are reasonably priced). No black ones in stock online, but three shown as in stock locally, and one colour. Since not in stock online, couldn't order for click and collect, nor for colour, since only one locally. Decided to take bus into town next day.
Drained muslin bag of pips and pith, but made two stupid mistakes; firstly didn't press out enough pectin from bag, which might not have mattered if I'd boiled the liquid hard and secondly decided it must have had enough after an hour, despite not passing the cold saucer test.
Put it in jars anyway, only to find next morning that it hadn't set firm enough. Squeezed out more pectin and this time hard boiled it.
Reached setting point after about 15 minutes and refilled all but one of the jars.
Bus into town. John Lewis had no colour cartridge and just two black, despite stock levels still showing same as yesterday. Bought both black and, grudgingly, very expensive XL (hah!) colour, and let staff know what I thought of their stock control software.
And breathe.
View attachment 674040

Very "National Trust" labels! I have a labelling machine that prints out strictly utilitarian stuff on a plastic strip. I can never put them on the jars straight so I go for a wildly jaunty angle.
I think that Waitrose now has a supply of these oranges.......

I can't work out whether to start on my tax return or start getting sticky.