The bitter Seville oranges best loved by Marmalade makers have arrived in shops and supermarkets. This is a bitter fruit, full of pith and pips, quite light in weight compared to juicy sweet oranges. The skin however is a lovely rich orange colour and is full of delicious aromatic oils, giving a lovely colour to Seville Marmalade, and the pith and pips are rich in pectin.
I missed making Seville Marmalade last year, as I still had quite a few jars left in the cupboard, and also love making other marmalades. This year however we are ready for a few jars. I suppose I could freeze the oranges as I have done in the past, but it is lovely to use produce in their right season. With not too much going on in January, how nice to have something that is truely a marker of this time of the year. Lemons and other citrus fruit are good at the moment too.
I love to make the Marmalade the slow way, which means making it over three days, thereby gaining the advantage of spreading the work around other things going on, and also has the great benefit of allowing much of the pectin to flow out of the peel and into the liquid giving a lovely jelly consistency to the preserve. I do however have some 'speedy' elements in that I use the pressure cooker to soften the fruit.
I checked my entry on my other blog Mrs Mace Preserves, for my 2014 batch of Seville Marmade, and feel that I shall follow that method. Today I have simply prepared my fruit by cutting it into largish pieces and put to soak.
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