Lazy Seville Orange Marmalade

I have been told by people who should know that I make marmalade wrongly. I'm sure they are right. However, it seems to work. This recipe is for the bittersweet marmalade so beloved of the English. And me. However, you do need one essential ingredient and in that regard I am very lucky, because...

I have friends with a Seville orange tree. That's one of the most welcome sentences in the English language for marmalade-makers. If you are lucky enough to be able to use it then cherish your friends and cherish the wonderful and sadly rare fruit they can give you. 

The reason the oranges are rare is that you can't eat them raw. They are bitter and have very little juice. So supermarkets aren't interested. Or any other shops really. Shame, because they are handy for cooking all sorts of stuff (Sauce Bigarade with duck for instance...).

As I say, this is lazy marmalade. It's still a bit of an effort but I reckon it is about as simple as you can go if you want to make Seville Orange marmalade. And, yes, it really is better than the store-bought varieties. 

And, being lazy, I tend to do this in quite large quantities. Recipes I've found use 1kg or even 500g of oranges. I reckon if you're going to this trouble then go big! This makes around 18 jars of various sizes - see the pic at the bottom.

INGREDIENTS

2kg Seville oranges
5 litres water
4kg sugar

Some extra juice (a couple of lemons, navel oranges, blood oranges, etc)
A liqueur of choice (very optional)

NOTE: I haven't specified any particular kind of sugar. Some recipes go for Demerara or other darker sugars, I tend to like plain white sugar as I reckon it messes less with the flavour of the oranges. But then I like white sugar in my coffee for the same reason. You may feel differently - go for it! (Yes I know, it's a horrendous amount of sugar. It might put you off jams for life. But they really are all like this, I haven't just gone completely sugar-crazy)

FURTHER NOTE: When making the batch in the photos I realised I'd forgotten to actually buy sugar so used a mix of white, caster, raw brown, brown crystals and a tiny bit of leftover Demerara to make up the weight, every bit of sugar in the cupboard except the icing sugar. And the result was delicious. Marmalade is pretty amenable to tweaks and experiments as long as you follow the basic cooking guidelines...  

METHOD

Scrub the oranges, remove the buttons at the top of the fruit, then cut them in half. Squeeze out the juice and reserve it. Get all the seeds. Dig them out with a knife if you have to. These are what will thicken the marmalade. Gather up the seeds in a square of muslin. Make a little bag. Tie it up with string.

At this point some people carefully slice up the skin into neat little bits, tiny thin slices for very posh marmalade. I don't. I cut the skin into smaller pieces (about 12 per orange). Whatever size goes easily in the food processor. Then blitz it in batches for about 30 seconds each to make little bits. It's pretty easy to see if they're right – don't go too long or they'll be mush and no good.

Put the processed peel, the pip bag and the juice in a big bowl, add 2.5 litres of the water. Leave to soak overnight, or for up to 24 hours. Next day, transfer it all a preserving pan or really large saucepan and add the other 2.5 litres of water. Add the sugar, heat, and stir while it dissolves.

Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer slowly until the contents of the pan have reduced by a third. Measure the level to check (it's usually quite easy to see because of marks on the inside of the pan). About 2 hours. Maybe 3. The peel should now be soft. The marmalade should be looking a bit thicker and darker. Take out the bag and squeeze it into the pot to release any extra juices and pectin.

Now add that extra juice, just to brighten the flavour, and bring it back to a rolling boil. Boil for about 20 minutes stirring frequently to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. There are now two ways to tell when it's ready...

1. A sugar thermometer should read 104C. That's what they say. I reckon about 108C is better but my thermometer may be off. So I do the other thing...
   

2. Put some small plates in the freezer for 5 minutes. Three or four. Drop a little hot marmalade on a plate and put it back in the freezer for 15 seconds. If you run a finger through it does it stay separate? Does it wrinkle a bit? I know this requires judgement but it's actually pretty easy to tell. Test till it seems ready.
   

                      
   

Then remove it from the heat, leave to cool for 10 minutes, and stir gently to disperse any scum. It really helps at this point to have a little equipment. It's pretty messy ladling marmalade into jars so a funnel is handy (and cheap). It's also BLOODY HOT so take care. Sterilize the jars by putting them in a 140C oven for 25 minutes. Take the lids off first and put them in as well. 

Then fill those jars, after mixing 80ml/100ml of a liqueur of your choice into the pot should you desire. I like Cointreau, but Drambuie would be good, or just a little Scotch or Brandy, whatever you fancy. (In all honesty it doesn't actually make much difference, but it's nice to write on the jar...) 

I just save all my jars and use whatever is handy, not even bothering to remove the labels. Told you this is lazy marmalade. You might want to take a flasher approach - especially if they're for presents and, believe me, people LOVE home-made marmalade as a present. Unless my friends have been humouring me all this time. Have at it - homemade marmalade may change your life!