Making Marmalade

Everyone knows that January and February are the months to make marmalade but in truth the only marmalade which this really refers to is Orange Seville Marmalade. This is due to the fruit being  available in the shops and it's short season

However there are so many other marmalade recipes out there such as grapefruit, lime, and lemon. We don’t even have to stick to citrus; my father’s favourite marmalade was ginger. These other fruits

are always available year round and with the wide world web being accessible to everyone it is so easy to find a recipe to suit.

I have a very old recipe book for preserves which has been on my shelf all my married life and which I inherited from an elderly aunt of my husbands. Its back cover is in need of repair and it is badly splattered from my annual attempts of producing this delicious amber nectar.

Although this year I played about with a few recipes and tried a much easier method of cooking the fruit whole for 2 hours and found that it was less troublesome than all my previous efforts.

Seville and Orange Marmalade

3 1bs Seville oranges

Juice of 2 lemons

5 1bs of golden granulated warmed

2 inch piece of peeled fresh ginger grated

Place washed whole fruit in preserving pan with enough water to cover, bring to boil cover and cook for 2 hours.

Remove the fruit and cool. I actually boiled the fruit and left it to cool overnight.

Cut the oranges in half, put the pips and fibrous bits into a small saucepan with some of the reserved liquid and boil for 10 minutes, cut the peel into thin strips.

Combine all the strained and reserved liquid back into the preserving pan. You should have 2¾ pints adding more water if needed. Add the peel and ginger along with the lemon juice and bring to the boil.

Add the sugar and bring to the boil stirring. Keep to a steady boil until setting point is reached about 20 minutes.

Pot into hot sterilised jars , cover and store in a dry cool place.