seville orange marmalade
Cuisine: British
Author: Mrs Butterfingers
Prep time: 2 hours
Cook time: 1 hour 30 mins
Total time: 3 hours 30 mins
A classic recipe for a popular spread. Seville orange marmalade requires no added pectin. Lavish its rich citrus flavour on toast or biscuits. This recipe takes two days.
Ingredients
  • 6 Seville oranges or other sour oranges (2 pounds /1 kg total weight) preferably organic
  • 1 navel orange, preferably organic
  • 10 cups (2.5 liters) water
  • pinch of fine sea salt
  • 8 cups (l.6 kg) sugar
  • 2 tablespoons (30 ml) cognac, whiskey or Grand Marnier (optional)
Instructions
  1. Sterilize jars (see chef''s note)
  2. On day one halve the oranges and squeeze out the juice and seeds from each half into a mesh strainer set over a medium sized bowl.
  3. After all the oranges have been squeezed place the seeds on to a generous piece of double layer cheesecloth. Gather up the sides and tie securely with kitchen string.
  4. Cut each rind in half and then slice as thinly as possible. If you are having problems slicing the orange peel thinly try using a very sharp serrated knife.
  5. Put the oranges slices into a large pot or a large Dutch oven. Add the orange juice, water, the bag of seeds and salt.
  6. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat then decrease the heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes. Be sure to maintain this medium heat and not let the temperature drop to low.
  7. Remove from the heat and cover. Let stand overnight at room temperature.
  8. The next day stir in the sugar and set the pot over high heat.
  9. Bring the mixture to a boil then decrease the heat to medium-low to maintain a gentle simmer.
  10. Cook stirring occasionally to make sure the mixture is not burning on the bottom until the marmalade reaches the jelling point. Depending on your like your marmalade your candy thermometer should register 217F (110C) for a thick spread, or if you want a runny marmalade take it to slightly before those temperatures.
  11. If white sum occasionally rise to the top, skim it off with a large spoon.
  12. Stir in the spirits if using and remove the bag of seeds squeezing it with a pair of tons to extract as much marmalade from it as possible.
  13. Ladle the marmalade into the sterilized jars and cover tightly. Let cool and refrigerate.
  14. The marmalade will keep for at least 6 months in the refrigerator or 1 year in the freezer.
  15. Chef's note:
  16. You can sterilize your jars in the dish washer or your oven but I prefer to to boil my jars for 5 minutes. I also sterilize my tongs and spoons. It is important when doing any type of preserving or caning that you do no cross-contaminate your product.
Recipe by Mrs. Butterfingers at http://mrsbutterfingers.com/?p=3503