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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Hi Willie M
Fingers crossed that your marmalade works this time!
Hi Mildred
Thanks again for all your help.
Hi Linda
The longer that you boil the marmalade, the thicker it will be as the boiling process gradually removes the water.
Hello Willie, good idea to save the Sevilles – something to look forward to 😉
I had discussions with my friend Sylvia about using different types of sugar last ‘season, and followed her recommendation to use Cane Sugar. Until then I’d simply used Granulated Sugar, not checking whether it was cane or beet sugar, or even fully appreciating the difference. Now after many and varied batches(producing various jams, jellies and Marmalades) I would tend to agree with Sylvia, Cane sugar does seem to give better results! BUT, it really is okay to use whatever you have – Caster, Granulated etc! (I seem to think that Tate & Lyle is the only company that produce cane sugar, although I may be wrong. It could simply be that our local our shops are a bit ‘lacking’!).
Another tip to give you a little extra confidence and assist in achieving a good set – use half ‘sugar with added Pectin’ and half granulated – still following the instructions above – not necessariy those on the bag of sugar! It is the pectin in the fruit that results in a good set, so sugar with extra pectin really can help.
Marmalade making is a bit like bread making and much else in life, once you become comfortable with the process and have achieved a measure of consistent success, you can do it with your eyes closed (but I wouldn’t recommend it!)
I made a batch of marmalade and it didn’t set so I boiled it again with 2 lemons and although it’s better its runnier than shop marmalade-should that be?
Mildred, you’re marvellous. Thank you very much. I’m keen to have a go at your grapefruit marmalade, but I have been forbidden to do any more marmalade until we have emptied some of the two dozen jars of ‘Orange Dipping Sauce’ that I’ve already made. So, I’m eating it all the time – I think there was one meal last week where we didn’t have marmalade with something. However, following your last response, I have received a dispensation to go ahead with your recipe at the weekend.
I have a batch of Seville oranges in the deep freeze, but I’ll keep them to the summer. I’ll try your two grapefruit, orange and lemon. However, one, hopefully final, question. I used preserving sugar with my last batch and it was marginally better than when using ordinary granulated sugar, but the outcome might have had nothing to do with the sugar. What type of sugar do you recommend?
So, once more, into the breach. Have (new) sugar thermometer – will succeed – this time.
Many thanks again, Mildred – and thanks to you, Fiona, for making all this possible.
I meant to also say (!) we opened a new jar of ‘3 Fruits’ for breakfast – it is still my fvaourite marms AND one of the easiest to make (well, I think so . . . ).
I mentioned it in an earlier comment(Feb 5th): 2 pink grapefruits, a lemon and an orange – all medium sized. Made with 2.2pints of water and 2.2lbs of granulated sugar. My method, the one I usually use, is also above (Jan 3rd). Those quantities are manageable, and I can say in all honesty that it has always set 🙂
Yes Willie, I myself would call 104/5 a Rolling Boil . . . you would have a job to make it go higher! Watch it in the pan as the 15 minutes passes, don’t stir, and you will see it changes. It is hard to describe and it took me a few times to gather what was meant by this. Slide it off the heat and perform a setting test – a cold saucer (I actually get a jar of jam out of the fridge and use the cold base!). Use a desert spoon and carefully spoon some boiling marm out and drop some onto the cold surface. While it cools, a minute or so, I like to examine the spoon, turning it over to see how set it looks on it, and allowing a drip to gather at the edge, you can look at how it gathers a drips off, if it IS going to set it ‘hangs’ on the edge. After examining the spoon go back to your saucer test, push the marm with your little finger, if it IS going to set it will crinkle slightly and it holds the path your finger makes through it . . . and if it is NOT going to set it will remain runny
If it doesn’t appear to look like it will set pop it back on the heat and bring up to that rolling boil, then set the timer for 5 minutes, then test again. Sometimes you have to do this 3 or even 4 times.
I wish I could nip round and show you! And keep asking questions if you are not sure! Good luck!!
I’m sorry to come back to you yet again, but I’m confused again. Is this correct? I should bring the marmalade up to 104/5 degrees, and then maintain that temperature for 15 minutes – and that’s the process which is known as a ‘rolling boil’? Does that mean that it’s more of a ‘simmer’ since we don’t want the temperature to go higher than 104/5? And am I right in thinking that a good set will be achieved at the end of that 15 minutes?
Hi Michelle
Thank you for a brilliant suggestion for glazing ham.
Hi Mildred,
Yes, of course this is a rolling boil! Thanks so much for sharing.
Hi Fi and Willie, I describe it as ‘a rolling boil’, which is 104/5c.
Great ideas for using up the marmalade, thanks Michelle, we are doing a ham tomorrow so I can use your suggestion!
Hi Everyone,
First I do have to say I admide all of you for trying to do marmalade, I haven’t got past blackberry jam yet!
For the folks that have the marmalade that didn’t come out quite right, I have another sugestion for using it up.
I glaze ham with marmalade and a little chili powder, or cayanne powder. I apply it in the last half hour and it turns out wonderful. The thin ones you could thicken up with a little corn starch and the thick ones could be thinned with a little juice and then baste on.
Just a thought…