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.
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Trish, I think you’ll just have to boil for longer – not big problem.
I must say that the first few times I made marmalade I’m sure I followed St Delia without problems [save going too far to get a set].
Tell me, wozza ‘mezzaluna’?
My sister [lucky thing] has an ancient ‘Rapid marmalade Cutter’ made by Follows and Bates, which makes it very easy to cut up the peel.
Ive added loads of water! Oops! Oh well, we’ll just see how it goes. Next doors cat looks worried.
This is my first time with this particular recipe so Saint Delia better come through for me!
Also, meant to say, I shred my oranges using a mezzaluna. Very quick and produces some nice rustic looking chunks. In the past, I’ve made it shredless too as my kids don’t like ‘bits’ in it. I then just put all the pith, peel, pips etc in a muslin bag and let it dangle in liquid till its ready. Tastes equally yummy.
(This is a late reply, as my web access has been down for almost a week – I really missed it!)
Liz, as Ellien has said, you need to boil for 2 hours. Indeed my sister always puts her cut peel in the bottom oven of her aga overnight to soften it. I did the equivalent by setting my oven to 110C and the peel quarters were very soft and easy to cut up – too squishy really!
Both Delia and Katie Stewart in their usually infallible cookbooks say boil fast when going for a set. I have a thermometer which reads 105C at set point, but the cold saucer technique works just fine, but experience helps! My suggestion is not to wait for a seriously wrinkly result; a bit of wrinkling is probably enough, (but I’m no expert).
If you find the muslim square technique difficult, follow Jocasta Innes’s recipe, or this one from Katie Stewart:
[simplified] – 1.4 Kg seville oranges simmered 2 hours or till soft, in a covered pan with 2.7 litres of water. when cool(!) halve, and scoop out pith pulp and pips and simmer pp&p with 300ml water in another pan for 10 mins.
Slice or chop your peel into the original water.
strain the pip water into the main pan and add juice of two lemons, and 2.7Kg of sugar. stir over a low heat until sugar is /all/ dissolved, athen bring to the boil and boil rapidly for 15 mins.
Test for a set and carry on as usual.
Trish: yes, last I time I did it nearly all my water boiled away, too. Dunno why! Add more, but not a lot [that doesn’t help much, does it?!] I think I’ll keep the lid on next time…
Don’t give up! 🙂
John
Thank you so much. My oranges are fine so I’m gonna keep going and see what happens. If that fails, I’ll go and throw a few snowballs at next door’s cat to relieve my frustration! 🙂
Hi Trish
I did stage one of Delia’s recipe using my new Lakeland preserving steamer and just got one pint of juice. I’m going to top this concentrated juice with water to the 3 litres.
As long as you oranges are not burnt you can continue. The juice will be concentrated so you can top up with water. But beware, your simmering was clearly a bit too high so make sure that when you add the sugar that the bubbles are barely breaking gently on the surface until you raise the heat after three hours to set the marmalade. Otherwise it will set in seconds and you’ll end up with toffee in your jars
Help!!! Just doing stage 1 of the Delia recipe and my 5 pints of water gently simmering has all but disappeared! I only have half a pint left! Can I remedy that somehow or is it time to start all over again?!!
Hi Liz
How disappointing.
I think Ellien has answered your queries. I think that the Jocasta Innes’ recipe sounds good.
Hi Ellien
Thanks for leaving this comment. I have very little marmalade making experience and just stick to the Delia one.
Hello Willie M
Great to hear that your marmalade disaster days are over!
Great to hear about the bread.
Good luck with the scones. Somewhere in my distant memory I have a feeling that sour milk makes great scones. You could also try using buttermilk.
Hello Claire G
Did the recipe stipulate preserving sugar? I avoid it generally as it can give the marmalade/jam a synthetic taste.
The dark colour and the ultra firm set indicates that you boiled the marmalade for a bit too long.
I reckon the Ellien’s comment above may be the answer.
Don’t give up!
Help!!! I have just stumbled across this wonderful site – wish I’d found it earlier. I have made my first foray into marmalade and it’s a disaster. It’s turned out just like toffee. I used 1kg oranges, 1 lemon, 2 kg preserving sugar, 2 litres water. Is this where I’m going wrong, with the sugar, as it seems most of the commentees use granulated. My marmalade was also really really dark – nothing like the picture on the Waitrose recipe card! Any hints/suggestions greatly appreciated. Many thanks.
John, last week you suggested that I should get a prize for perseverance. It’s a nice thought, John, but I don’t need a prize – because I’ve just done two batches of beautifully-set, scrumptuously-tasting marmalade – with no problems whatsoever. That’s better than a prize for me. Perseverence has paid off.
I was the ‘baby of the class’ last year, and leaned so heavily on Fn and Mildred. I stuck at it, with their advice and encouragement, and have tackled Mildred’s ‘four fruits’ marmalade (Jan 3rd 2008 and highly recommended) successfully on a number of occasions, together with tons of various apple jellies in the autumn. Suddenly, getting a set has no fears for me; I can patiently wait for it, without panicking and seeing wrinkles where none exist.
And my freezer now has another two kilos of Seville oranges for the summer and autumn. Who cares about the credit-crunch and deepening recession when the freezer holds such promise for the future.
I’m even back to bread-making, Mildred, and I agree that there is little to beat a slice of home-made bread spread with scrummy well-set marmalade. My message to those who are in the position I was in last year – persevere – the prize is really worthwhile. Thanks again, Fn and Mildred.
By the way, my bread-maker said it could make marmalade. I tried it last week and the result was excellent. It was much quicker than the normal process and I had to keep it boiling an additional thirty minutes beyond the machine times to get a set. But, a really good result.
And now, back to scone-making. It’s been a disaster so far, but I’ll get there in the end. I’m trying to capture the tastess and smells of my mother’s kitchen when I was a boy.
Liz – The oranges need to be poached for two hours (on the advice of Georgina Horley). Any less and the shreds will harden when you add the sugar. It always works for me.
Jocasta Innes, in The Pauper’s Cookbook, gives the simplest recipe that works every time. Poach 1/5 kg Seville oranges in 1.3 litres of water for two hours, covered (I sometimes include a lemon). Remove oranges and when cooled remove pips, place them in the liquid and boil for ten minutes, then remove them. Put in the cut peel, from which the pulp has been removed (you can cut this up finely and include it to add more body, or tied in muslin to leave a clearer result). Add 1 kg of warmed sugar (I like to use Golden Granulated) and continue cooking as described elsewhere. My preference is to bring the temperature up to 104C, then reduce the heat and boil slowly for about an hour, when it is usually set.
I am going to try cooking it this time very slowly as described above, for that richer darker caramelised effect. But using Jocasta Innes’s method is virtually foolproof, and easier than Delia Smith’s, in my experience.