My mother always made Seville Orange Marmalade and as soon as I was old enough to be trusted with a sharp knife I was allowed to help. I have many memories of the kitchen filled with the scent of oranges, love and laughter. My mother passed her skills and traditions to me and I am now passing them on to the next generation.
Making homemade marmalade is quite time consuming but definitely worth the effort. I prefer traditional marmalade made with Seville oranges, which are only available at this time of year. I have been busy this week making enough marmalade to last until next year.
I have halved my mother’s recipe as I find it easier to make two small batches rather than one large one. Just double the quantities if you prefer to make a large batch. I have given both imperial and metric measures but find it easier to use the metric quantities, as in the UK sugar comes in one or two kilo bags. My mother of course used imperial measurements.
How To Make Seville Orange Marmalade
6
jarsIngredients
2 pounds / 1 kilo Seville Oranges
1 unwaxed lemon
4 ½ pints / 3 litres water
4 pounds / 2 kilos granulated sugar
Directions
- Cut the oranges and lemon in half and squeeze out the juice through a sieve to catch the pips into a bowl or jug.
- Cut the orange halves in half again so you have 4 quarters of peel for each fruit.
- Remove any remaining pith and pips from these quarters of peel and place into a saucepan with the contents of the sieve and 1 litre / 1 ½ pints of water.
- Using a sharp knife cut each quarter of peel into thin shreds.
- Put the shredded peel and the juice into a preserving pan or large saucepan with the remaining 3 pints / 2 litres of water.
- Bring both pans to the boil and simmer gently for about two hours or until the peel is tender and the liquid reduced by about half in the smaller saucepan.
- Pour the contents of the smaller saucepan into a sieve over a bowl or jug and stir gently to extract the thick, sticky liquid that contains the pectin.
- Add this liquid to the contents of the preserving pan with 4 pounds / 2 kilos of granulated sugar.
- At this point place 2 or 3 saucers or small plates in the freezer. You will need these cold plates later to see whether your marmalade has reached setting point.
- Stir the contents of the preserving pan over a gentle heat until the sugar dissolves.
- Once the sugar has dissolved 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. My mother called this a ‘rolling boil’. 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. When it cools push it with your finger to see if it is set. If it is still runny boil for another 5 minutes and test for a set again and repeat until you get a ‘set’.
- Remove the pan from the heat and allow to rest for about 20 minutes.
- Put into hot sterilised jars and seal while hot. You should have enough for 6 pounds / 450 grams jars.
- You can label your jars when they are completely cold.
- Store in a cool dark place and your marmalade will keep for at least a year.
Recipe Video
Seville Orange Marmalade
I do hope you find time to try out my recipe for Seville Orange Marmalade, if not this year keep it for next year! Let me know how you get on.
Happy Baking!
Tanya
A lovely marmalade firm and tangy
Lovely thanks Margaret, that’s great to hear!
This worked really well – the set was brilliant. I simmered the juice and peel in a perserving pan and it lost quite a lot of the liquid volume, is that usual?
I’m really pleased it turned out well – thank you Andrew.
Yes it is normal for it to reduce a lot but you can put extra water in if you think it goes down too much. But maybe you didn’t need to in your case.
Thank you
Tanya