Marmalade
Author: Anna Hedworth
Method
- This is my award-winning marmalade! I entered it into the Dalemain Marmalade Awards last year and was awarded a Silver medal for. I’m going for Gold this year!
- When I last made this, I had 750g of Seville oranges, which I juiced. Keep the juice then finely slice all the skin and pith, removing and keeping all the pips. Put all the sliced skin into a large cast iron pan, add the juice and pour over 1.8 litres of water and leave to soak overnight. The next day, add 3 large sprigs of rosemary and the pips in a little bag of muslin. Some people say that you need the pips in to help with setting as they contain lots of pectin, others say there is enough pectin in the fruit itself to do this. I add them just to be on the safe side.
- Bring the whole lot to the boil and simmer for a couple of hours, until the skin is soft and the water has reduced by about a third. You want to end up with a volume approximately double the quantity of oranges, so approximately 1.5 litres after cooking.
- Add 1kg caster sugar and 500g light brown sugar (darker sugar creates a darker marmalade). This is double the weight of the oranges again. At this point, add another large sprig of rosemary. Bring everything to the boil and stir to dissolve the sugar, then keep at a fast rolling boil until it reaches setting point. It needs to get to about 104C, which takes about 20 mins. I also test it on a cold saucer, dropping a bit on and leaving it for a minute - if it wrinkles when you push it, it has reached setting point.
- When you’re all done, leave your marmalade to sit in the pan for 10 mins. This lets it cool and set very slightly so all the peel doesn’t sink to the bottom when you put it into your sterilised jars. This will make 11 8oz jars. I put a fresh sprig of rosemary in each jar and then fill them up. It will keep for over a year once sealed.
