Directions

• Cut the oranges and lemon in half, squeeze out the juice and strain through a sieve into a preserving pan or large saucepan of at least 5 litres capacity.
• Cut the orange halves in half again so you have 4 quarters of peel for each fruit.
• Remove the loose pith and any remaining pips from these orange quarters. If you loosen the pith at one end with a sharp knife you should be able to pull it away. There will be a thin layer of white pith remaining on the orange peel.
• Place this pith, the contents of the sieve and the prepared fresh ginger into a smaller saucepan. Cover with 1 pint or ¾ litres of the water.
• Using a sharp knife, cut the orange peel into thin shreds.
• Add these shreds and the remaining 3 pints or 2 ½ litres of water to the preserving pan
• Bring both pans to the boil and simmer gently for about 2 hours or until the peel is tender and the liquid reduced by half in the smaller saucepan. Keep a careful eye on this smaller pan as you may need to top up the water if it reduces too quickly.
• When the peel is tender and the liquid in the smaller pan has reduced pour the contents of this pan into a sieve over a bowl or jug and stir gently to extract the thickened sticky liquid that contains the pectin. Add this liquid to the contents of the preserving pan.
• At this point place 2 or 3 saucers in your freezer. You will need these cold saucers when you are testing for a ‘set’.
• Add the sugar to the preserving pan and stir until it is completely dissolved . When it is dissolved stir in the crystallised ginger.
• Now bring the contents of the pan to a fast boil. It must be boiling so hard that it stays at boiling point, even when stirred. Boil for 15 minutes, stirring frequently, then remove from the heat to test for a ‘set’.
• Take one of your saucers from the freezer and put a small spoonful of marmalade on it. Replace in the freezer for a few minutes until cold. Push the contents of the saucer with your finger and if it has formed a skin that wrinkles as you push then you have a ‘set’. If it is still liquid put back on the heat and boil for another 5 minutes and test again. If it is still liquid put back again on the heat and boil for another 5 minutes – repeat until you have a ‘set’. It rarely takes more than 20 minutes to come to the setting point.
• If any scum has formed on the surface of the marmalade, a teaspoon of butter stirred in should disperse this.
• Allow to rest for 20 minutes.
• Ladle into hot sterilised jars and seal immediately. A funnel is very useful for this. Using imperial quantities you should have approximately 6 pounds of marmalade – if you use the metric quantities you should have a little more than approximately 3 kilograms.
• Wait until your jars are completely cold before you label them.
• Store in a cool dark place and it will last at least a year.