I have neglected you, Blogland.
I didn't mean to. Life got busy and the dog ate my homework, Miss - honest.
Anyhoo.
It's January!! You know, of course, what that means?
Yup. Marmalade.
Now, I don't like the stuff you can buy. The real stuff is where it's at.
No-one really seems to know the origins of marmalade, some say French, others Portuguese. All I know is that I find it delightfully medieval and really rather scrumptious on a piece of toast. Whatever it's origins it is traditional and therefore, in my mind at least, something that needs preserving. As English as Morris Dancers, real ale and country fairs - this is our heritage. You therefore have a duty to have a go at making some.
And it's really not too tricky.
Now, it's always best to use a reliable recipe. In this, I look no further than that Cooking Canary fan, the marvellously efficient Delia Smith. Here is her recipe. This is what I'm using today.
So. Get your bits together. Hoik some jars from the recycling bin, or, if making for pressies, it's a good idea to use smaller jars (and thus get more!!). Lakeland sell smaller jars and lid but they are pricey so what I do is buy cheap jars of mint sauce (about 20p each) and chuck the mint sauce away (makes the drains smell lovely as a bit of a bonus). You can't always get the minty smell from the lids though so you can buy those separately, if you wish. You know the drill with sterilising the jars and lids - hot soapy water, rinse with hot water, turn upside down and put in a warm oven.
In addition to her fabulously comprehensive recipe I would add that you need some handcream (for your hands, people, not to put in the marmalade - that would be mad) and a wonderfully tolerant husband who doesn't mind the house honking of orange for a while.
First off - cut the oranges in half and juice them. Not a lot of juice will come out of them but gazillions of pips will. Put a square of muslin over a bowl and squeeze the orange halves over it. Get most of the pips out and put in the muslin.
Put 4 pints of water into a preserving pan (if you have one). *adds gratuitous shot of my preserving pan because I am smug*Add the juice to the water.
Then comes the zen bit. You gotta shred the peel. You could get all bored doing this but bung some music on, or a bit of Ken Bruce and enjoy. Hoik the pith off the peel and put this in the muslin too. Slice the peel into matchstick sized strips and put these in the juice/water combo.
So basically use every single bit of the oranges up.
Time to soften the peel up and extract the pectin (setting agent) from the pith and pips. Gather up the edges of the muslin and tie with some string to make a, ahem, "ball bag" (fnarrr). Hang your ball bag in the pan and attach it to the handle with a longer piece of string. Let it dangle in the water/juice/peel combo. Warm up the hob and simmer it for a couple of hours. Perhaps a cup of tea here would be appropriate? When the peel is soft you can squidge it between your fingers.
This is where you scamper to the freezer and put a couple of saucers in there. Get those jars in the oven to sterilise.
OK; this is the messy bit. Retrieve the pithy/pippy ball bag from the pan and leave to one side on plate to cool. When coolish enough to handle it's groping and squeezing time pectin extraction time.
Over the pan, squeeze that ball bag darned hard and you will notice slimy stuff oozing out. This is magical pectin and it will help the marmalade to set (after all, no one wants marmalade that drips off their toast and down their arm). Squeeze as much out as you can. Wash your hands. Then the handcream bit. Handling these oranges will strip all the grease from your hands, believe me.
Add 4lbs of sugar to the pan. Delia recommends you warm it first to speed up this process.
I didn't bother (forgot). It seems like a heck of a lot of sugar but keep stirring it over a lowish heat - it must dissolve properly before boiling or you will get sugar crystals (and you don't want them, no, no, no). When it's no longer gritty then crank up the hob as high as you can and get a rolling boil going.
You may notice it's got a ring of SCUM around it. SCUM is the enemy of a pretty preserve. Don't try to scrape it off; for one you'll be there, like, forever and two; you'll have no marmalade left.
Instead, get your knob out. Knob of butter, that is. Put it in and mix well and the SCUM should disperse.
Give it ten minutes to settle a bit (otherwise the peel floats on the top) and ladle into jars, using your jam funnel.
And voila!
Taste the sunshine.
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