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
do you have to do anything special to the oranges to freeze them or just lob them in whole??
Hi Mildred
Thanks for the link to the recipes! I reckon that they need to be chopped very fine to work.
Hi Kate
I agree with Mildred, you are so lucky to have your own tiny oranges. They’ll look so pretty halved in the jar.
Hi Clare
Cardamom, nice twist.
Hi Jane,
Wow that’s a wonderful recipe for marmalade and a great method for producing large quantities. Thanks for dropping by to leave a comment.
I bought two 13 kilo boxes of seville oranges and two boxes of lemons from my local fruit and veg supplier in Edinburgh called Total Produce. Plus 72 kilos of sugar!! Collect the jars from friends and get down to mass production! Remembering to give them marmalade/chutney etc as a bribe!
Place the quantity for each batch (3lbs oranges three lemons)into separate plastic bags, ready for your production line. Put two batches in the oven at Gas 3 for 30mins. Then cut in half in a bowl keeping juice as it dribbles out. Squeeze juice using Braun squeezer. Having been in the oven the pith comes off easily. Using 4 orange peels at a time cut them in four. Liquidize with a total of one and a half pints of water. Put the pips and gunge that remains into a jiffy bag! Tie tightly! Now put the liquidized peel, juice and bag of pips into a pressure cooker and cook! Length of time? Use you nouse! Now you have reduced all that boring waiting to soften the peel! Put 4 kilo bags of sugar in the oven for 30 mins at Gas 3! Add sugar and allow to dissolve slowly then bring to the boil and continue as per normal recipe for marmalade.
Believe you me you won’t waste your time!
Provided you keep the production line moving,have the energy and all the jars ready to go you can make approx 8 batches a day. Lunch will be a standup affair!
Keep at it!
Jane Butters
Remember each batch uses 3 lbs of oranges.
Cardamom is nice in marmalade too…
Hi Kate, how exciting using your own mini oranges!
I agree you would probably have to cut it very finely indeed. I’ve just picked a load of tiny oranges from my ornamental orange tree and I think I shall see what I can do with them- they are large marble sized so I think I’ll try marmelading them just cut in half,with the left-over clementines from christmas ,should make a couple of jars worth- I like the idea of adding some cloves too.
There was a feature on today’s ‘Woman’s Hour’, on Radio 4, about Seville Orange Marmalade. There are 2 recipes on their website here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/03/2008_04_thu.shtml
The first recipe simply adds the finely cut peel just for the boiling with sugar part . . . do you think it would soften sufficiently? I usually simmer my fruit for 2 hours, and lemon peel takes even longer than that sometimes! Maybe it is ok if you cut it very, very finely . . . it is a lot of work (and expense) though if it doesn’t work!
Hi Rachel
Of course you can join in. Thanks for your input. I haven’t heard of this method but have only got my Magimix relatively recently so would have flipped over ‘Magimix’ related recipes.
Thanks for leaving a comment.
Hope anyone can join in….!
I have just made a James Martin recipe where you magimix the pips and flesh then put through a sieve instead of the usual muslin etc. It is really very good and easy. Does anyone know of any other recipes like this? I have never seen it before. The marmalade is very delicately flavoured but great.
Thanks.
Hi Iona
Thanks for leaving a comment.
Brilliant tips. The liqueurs would add a great twist and the cloves!