Perfect Seville orange marmalade recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Jam Jelly and Preserves | 265 comments
As the topping for the best slice of toast of the day, good marmalade is a joy. We like it dark, chunky, hand cut and never in moderation.
Marmalade was the first preserve that we made. We were so proud of it that we could hardly bear to move it from the worktop to the larder, let alone eat it. Eventually we opened the first jar and lavished it on slice after slice of hot buttered toast.
We immediately christened it Intellectual Marmalade as so much ground work, research and care had gone into its manufacture. Visitors who spotted the label were wary of it at breakfast. Would it somehow have an effect on the brain? When they saw us slopping it onto our toast they happily did the same. No one ever mentioned the name.
We like dark old fashioned marmalade. We couldn’t find a recipe for this so we based our recipe on the classic Seville Orange Marmalade in Delia’s Complete Illustrated Cookery Course
Marmalade can be a bit of a palaver. It starts with hunting down and bagging the fruit. Despite many forays I couldn’t find any Seville oranges this year. Just as I was about to give up I saw them twinkling out in the Cambridge market on Monday. Investing my small change in three kilos of the fruit, I staggered back to the car park with just enough cash to release Jalopy from the gloomy depths.
Having made no notes on the timings of our Intellectual Marmalade recipe, I couldn’t face another day/night of babysitting the bubbling vats. I was determined to find the best old fashioned marmalade recipe, with proper timings. A couple of days ago I discovered a Dark Chunky Marmalade recipe on Delia Online. It’s made in two steps, so it’s great if you are working full time as you can spread the process over two evenings (I would recommend a spreading the task over a weekend unless your evening starts at 15.00 hours). Seville oranges will survive happily in the fridge for at least a week. They keep for months in the freezer and, if you have the room, you can stash them and make fresh marmalade throughout the year.
We have finally made Delia’s Dark Chunky Marmalade. We combined her recipe with our method and simmered ours for a good six hours before setting point was reached. It looks divine and tastes even better than my mum’s. I’m amazed that Paddington Bear hasn’t dropped by.
N.B. If you try this recipe, the poaching liquid is used in the final marmalade. The recipe isn’t very clear on this point and I found the answer in the DeliaOnline forum (press the Community button on her site to access this great resource). Also you need a very large pot! To stop all the peel rising to the top of the jars let the marmalade cool a little before bottling in sterlised jars.
Update January 14th 2011
We now have several new recipes for Seville orange marmalade to suit every taste:
A super three fruit marmalade. A best seller on our gateside stand.
Easy Seville orange marmalade. This fine shredded marmalade is a classic and gets the thumbs up from my mum and is really easy to make!
Seville orange and quince marmalade. Lots of deep flavours in this orange and quince mix.
Leave a reply
Hi Kate
Our version of the marmalade is quite bitter. We love this but have found that most people prefer a sweeter brew.
Hello Mighty Mort
Thank you so much for your recipe, method and all these ideas.
200 lbs a year! Wow.
Hello Seahorse
Great that the label software is useful 🙂
Good tip to add booze to sweeten the bitter marmalade. Ideally you should taste the marmalade every half an hour or so until it reaches the depth of flavour that you like. When this has happened, bring it up to a rolling boil to set.
Thanks slso for your tips on natural pectin.
Hello Emily
Yes you leave the pith under the skin of the Seville oranges. This is how you get the chunks. It won’t taste like pith when it’s cooked. If you don’t want your marmalade to be too bitter follow the Delia timings. The longer you simmer it the more bitter it will be. If you want a darker colour add a couple af tablespoons of molasses or dark treacle.
Your winter jam sounds great. Thanks for leaving the recipe!
i made my first batch of sweet orange and Cointreau marmarlade as christmas gifts and was suprised how nice it was and that it set. Now I am hooked…. Riverford Organic has delivered an exciting package of serville oranges and Blood oranges. My only question is do I leave the pith in the serville marmarlade? will it set without it? will it be too bitter with it? Also is soaking the fruit overnight a good and necessary thing? For Christmas i also made a Winter Jam which was 1.5Kg of pears, one orange, one grapefruit and one lemon with 300g of raisens sliced the day before and covered with water, then simmered for an hour or so till rind was soft then 1.5Kg of warm sugar added and boiled to setting point. Whisky was added before placing in jars – delicious. suprising how quickly 18 jars are given away.
Wow Mighty Mort that’s a great collection. I’m hooked having just branched out into marmalade. So far so good. If I wanted to make a sweeter batch does adding a sweet orange help with flavour? I like it bitter, but not everyone I’m making for does.
Thanks Fi – downloaded label software. Marmalade with curacao is a winner! Used a combo of methods…Delia tomorrow as today i forgot a vital stage so did something a bit simpler.
May I recommend, by accident rather than design, boiling the lemon peel with the orange peel and then removing it and squidging it in a jelly bag. You get tons of pectin in addition to that from the pips (if you add pips in muslin that is).
Kate – I wonder too how to change the taste once the sugar is added. Any suggestions Fi? How can you tell if it’s too bitter and at what stage… If you make it too sweet my guess is it’s too late. Anyway, Kate may I suggest adding booze? It gives it a fabulous edge. Curacao is great, or try whisky or rum. You could boil up the batch and just turn it off, add 75cl (per 1kg oranges used) stir it in then rebottle it.
Hi
When making my Seville marmalade I always use a pressure cooker. 1 kg of Sevilles, 1 and a half pints of water, 1 Sweet Orange, 2 Lemons and 1 teaspoon of ground coriander, bring up to a head of steam for 25 minutes.
Then cut up skins to thickness put pulp and pips into seive and using a pestle or spoon push the pulp through the seive till no more will go through. Add 2 ks of sugar. bring slowly to the boil. When setting point is reached, I look for wrinkles at the sides of the preserve pan. put into clean jars via a jug (laddle marmalade into jug)& add tops.
Variations
Dark – Add 2 tablesppons Black Treacle, 1kg Gran. Sugar & 1kg of Demerara Sugar.
Spirit – Add teaspoon of Whisky, Gin, Rum to jar before marmalade goes in.
Chocolate – Use 100g of 70 – 85% Chocolate and stir in at the set stage (tastes like Choc Orange)
Ginger – Add 2 teaspoons Ground Ginger & 100gms Crystal Ginger at Sugar stage.
I also make Rum & Rasin and Xmas Pudding Marmalade but thats for another day.
I make about 200 lbs per year.
Regards
Mighty Mort
Made the marmalade – all went well but its very rich and bitter, slightly more than my palate prefers.
Think I might mix some sweet oranges into the next batch to lighten it slightly – I have a book that suggests 1 sweet orange for every 2 sevilles.
Hi Seahorse
There’s free label software on the Avery label site https://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=94
Hello Janet
I don’t see why not. If you do this I’d love to hear how you get on.
Can you simmer the fruit in a slow cooker over night.
Hope so, doing the long slow simmer. Whilst it’s cooking I’m trying to work out how to do labels! All very exciting. Perfect pursuit for a winter’s afternoon 🙂
Hello Seahorse
How are you?
Love the three treatments!
Your marmalade should work out. If you have taken the trouble to find 3 good recipes.