Who’s Making Marmalade?

[imageel]

From different books, all Sevilles -
1kg oranges
2l water
2kg sugar
juice of three lemons
..............

1KG oranges
1 lemon
2kg sugar
2.25l water.
................

450gm oranges
1.2l water
900gm sugar

................

1 1/2lb oranges
2pt water
juice of one lemon
3lb sugar.

..............

Much of a muchness. One includes a teaspoon of salt. And I can't find the book I was looking for.

All those are adding twice the weight of sugar to oranges which I find way too sweet.
I only add 1.25 x the weight of oranges, plus all the orange goes in and the only bits discarded are the pips and the ends and that + two whole lemons makes for a nice tangy marmalade.
Also in my 30+ years of making it to this recipe I've never had an issue with mould even with 2y old jars, and even opened ones which I never even store in the fridge -maybe the relatively high acid content protects it.
..but I guess each to their own as to recipe you follow -am sure those that make their own would never consume shop-bought again

 

[scockram]

I'm not sure if my helper is making a long job quicker or even slower!

 

[John DeLapp]

View attachment 174175

I'm not sure if my helper is making a long job quicker or even slower!

I wish we had kids around that were interested. I recently went through a spate of carpenter’s bench/stool making. I’d had a salvage pile of pine/ cedar etc torn out of wife’s family cabin near Lake Tahoe here in California. I used last of the scrap to make a scaled down model. The excuse I used was that I didn’t want my obituary to say that I had toppled off a stool getting into the liquor cabinet,
Its usual place is by the dryer for the cat to jump up. The two boards that make up the top had to be glued up, widest boards I had left were three and a half inches. Pallets would work fine.

 

[scockram]

All done.

 

[imageel]

Me too - 3 batches...

 

[scockram]

Me too - 3 batches...View attachment 174216

I feel slightly inadequate now! How long did that take you for each batch?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Mine is always much darker -

 

[SimonB]

Mine is always much darker -

Is this the "I'm now eating 2022s" batch? Ours starts to oxidize and darken considerably after 12 months. Was this the original colour? That would be strange.

I've just opened a 2021 batch that got forgotten on a top shelf and it is very dark, and actually a little past its best. Never had mould though.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

This one's at least two years old. It's dark because part of the sugar was muscovado.

 

[imageel]

I feel slightly inadequate now! How long did that take you for each batch?

it's split into 3 phases -
Pressure cook the Oranges for 15mins +maybe 30-40mins to depressurise naturally
Chop fruit up to remove pips and stalk ends and slice the rest into a preserving pan - maybe 1-1.5h - the fruit is very soft so super easy to cut, but also super messy!
Heat pan on stove, dissolve the sugar and bring to the boil to reach set-point - maybe 35-40mins - I have an induction hob where you can join two rings to accommodate large pans >3.5kw so it heats up pretty quickly.
In comparison to stewing the fruit in an open pan I think the pressure cooked one has better flavour and I think the shorter cooking time leads to less darkening of the end product.
Mine will keep for well over a year if unopened and even opened I've never had a jar go off or mouldy and I don't store opened jars in the fridge.
It does go darker with age - if kept in a cool and dark cupboard this is minimised and here a comparison between latest and 1y old -

 

[scockram]

it's split into 3 phases -
Pressure cook the Oranges for 15mins +maybe 30-40mins to depressurise naturally
Chop fruit up to remove pips and stalk ends and slice the rest into a preserving pan - maybe 1-1.5h - the fruit is very soft so super easy to cut, but also super messy!
Heat pan on stove, dissolve the sugar and bring to the boil to reach set-point - maybe 35-40mins - I have an induction hob where you can join two rings to accommodate large pans >3.5kw so it heats up pretty quickly.
In comparison to stewing the fruit in an open pan I think the pressure cooked one has better flavour and I think the shorter cooking time leads to less darkening of the end product.
Mine will keep for well over a year if unopened and even opened I've never had a jar go off or mouldy and I don't store opened jars in the fridge.
It does go darker with age - if kept in a cool and dark cupboard this is minimised and here a comparison between latest and 1y old -
View attachment 174243

Thank you. That sounds like a broadly similar timescale to mine. It just seemed to take forever, but maybe just because I'm not familiar with making marmalade; there's an awful lot of prep work with other kinds of fruit jams that I make as well. (To be honest it turns out that I didn't cook it for long enough this time, as it's turned out more like syrup than marmalade! I was hoping it would thicknen up on cooling, but alas no. I'll have to give it a re-boil I think)

Interesting point about using a pressure cooker, we've got one, very rarely used, but I've not thought about using it for jam.

 

[scockram]

Regarding fears over mould and stuff.
I must have made a few gallons of jam and chutney over the years and can only ever remember a couple of jars that have had mould on top. Even then I just scraped it off and it was fine underneath. I never bother canning and don't keep jam in the fridge either. I do make sure jars and lids are clean and then sterilised. Jars in an oven at 100 degrees and lids with boiling water.

Most of my jars are reused from bought in products, the bigger the better generally. Gherkins and other pickled vegetables seem to be a good size, ~600ml, and always seal well.

 

[imageel]

Thank you. That sounds like a broadly similar timescale to mine. It just seemed to take forever, but maybe just because I'm not familiar with making marmalade; there's an awful lot of prep work with other kinds of fruit jams that I make as well. (To be honest it turns out that I didn't cook it for long enough this time, as it's turned out more like syrup than marmalade! I was hoping it would thicknen up on cooling, but alas no. I'll have to give it a re-boil I think)

Interesting point about using a pressure cooker, we've got one, very rarely used, but I've not thought about using it for jam.

Glad you found it useful, wrt initial cook time, if done in an open pot it takes maybe ~2h and they need to be tender to the point the peel tears if prodded with a wooden spoon. My pressure cooker is an Instant Pot so completely automatic - the timer doesn't start until the pot is up to pressure and auto switches off when timer complete so it's a set and forget process!
Similar to you I sterilise my jars in the oven with lids too but set the stat to be just-on which indicates 80C, however oven stats are notoriously inaccurate and because of the way they work am sure the oven cycles over 100C at points and the inner seals on the lids appear to survive - so it works for me!

 

[TomGW]

Placing a circle of grease proof paper directly on top of the marmalade/jam reduces the surface area that is in contact with the air in the sealed jar. This reduces the potential for mould to form.

 

[Keith 66]

I love marmalade especially on Kippers, Proper oak smoked kippers, warm fresh bread & butter with lashings of marmalade. It is utterly glorious!

 

[Jameshow]

Right I have 8 large oranges and 4 lemons can anyone recommend a good simple recipe, slightly sharp so I don't use too much sugar / marmalade?