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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Hello Trish
Oh no. Poor you.
How is next door’s cat?
Over boiled. Toffee. Defeated. 🙁
Hi Lucy
Seville Oranges are used because they are “bitter”
and really do make the best sharp tasting marmalde in the world.
Sweet Oranges are ok and make good sweet marmalade. but the Seville is as you say the “‘creme de la creme” of marmalades.
It must be wonderfull to have your own trees to pick oranges from!
regards
Mighty Mort ( now known as MM it seems)
Hi
Wow such marmalade enthusiasts! I have just made my third batch of marmalade using a third recipe. I sliced 8 oranges and 2 lemons finely, and put them in water overnight. This morning I added 2lbs sugar and boiled it all up for about 1 1/2 hours and it set beautifully but it’s quite bitter! Having read all of these comments, I wonder if boiling it longer would make it sweeter? I am going to try the recipe you recommend on my next batch over the next couple of days but am running out of jars!
Also, the oranges are off our trees in southern Spain, and I don’t know what kind they are (I think we have different varieties). What is the significance of the seville oranges and how do you tell? Is it just that they the ‘creme de la creme’ of marmalade making? Thanks!
Hi Trish
Yes you can reboil it!
First grey hairs appeared courtesy of that **/!!*/ marmalade recipe!!! Its done and it tastes LOVELY. However, its all sloppy 🙁 It wouldn’t reach set and I was in a hurry and …. well, what can I say! I bottled it and hoped for the best. Can I chuck it all back in the preserving pan and boil again?
The recipe I have always used in the past is the Seville Orange Marmalade from Delia’s Cookery Course. Its always been a doddle but this Dark Seville one is killing me!
Thanks Linguistic Genius John for your advice! Also MM, great tip re the stick blender. Will try it next time.
I made my annual batch of marmalade a couple of weeks ago using my usual Good Housekeeping preserves book. I take at least 2 days. On day 1 I remove the pips, add them to a jelly bag, and put the flesh and cut peel into a bowl, adding the jelly bag as well. (It takes ages so maybe next year I should try the soaking method instead.) I cover everything with water and leave overnight – go and have a bath to ease my aching arms. The next day I add a little more water – although not as much as the recipe asks as it seems rather a lot, then switch the heat on and get everything to a simmer. Once the peel is soft I then add the sugar (ordinary ganulated and demerara, although a pound of dark molasses really helps to darken the end result) and then increase the heat till it’s all boiling. I’m not fussy about when to remove the jelly bag, sometimes I leave it in till the very end. It usually needs to boil for at least an hour or so and I can usually tell from how it’s boiling if it’s close to setting, everything calms down and you can see the liquid has become thicker and more viscous. Plus there’s usually a tide mark a couple of inches high. At this point I chuck in a small bottle of dark beer – I use Robinson’s Old Tom – and boil gently till setting point is reached again, usually about 15 minutes or so. The beer gives the marmalade an unusual flavour that seems to be very popular among my friends who are now demanding more and more jars. If I feel like making a whisky marmalade, I omit the beer and add a couple of ladles of whisky just after I’ve taken the pan off the heat and stir it through, grinning madly from the wonderful fumes created. As with other preserves, if I need to go out, I just switch everything off and re-start it once I get back. It seems to do no harm to the jam and sometimes even reduces the time needed for boiling. Or maybe I just get lucky. Whatever, home-made preserves are so much better than bought ones and it’s great to see from this site that so many people are willing to roll up their sleeves and have a go.
Ah ha! Mezza – half; luna – moon. It’s obvious now!
I like the stick blender idea, MM; just might try that next time.
Trish
If the kids dont like bits put the soft chopped peel into the pan with juice & sugar, dissolve sugar then use a stick blender and reduce peel to Fine Fleck, this will release some pectin boil till wrinkle stage.Result – Fine Fleck Marmalade
Also if you have a pressure cooker it takes 20 – 25 mins at pressure to soften peel.
A mezzaluna is one of those half moon shaped cutters with a handle either end that you use for chopping herbs. One of these:
http://fantes.com/images/14870mezzaluna.jpg