Homemade Traditional Marmalade Recipe

On Sunday I made marmalade!

And it was a success so I thought I'd share the recipe with you. I don't know where this recipe originated from as I found it written in my old recipe book...probably written at least twenty five years ago! And it's in old currency!

Ingredients

(to make 10lb marmalade)

2lb Seville Oranges

3 Lemons

5 Pints Water

5lb Granulated Sugar

1oz Butter

Sterilised Jam Jars and Metal Lids 

(To sterilise the jars and lids, I wash them in the dishwasher, then place them in the oven at a low temperature whilst the marmalade is boiling.)

Wash the oranges and lemons. Then juice them.

Cut the peel into strips with a knife or scissors discarding any bad bits. You can remove the pith if you like as it makes the marmalade more bitter but I don't worry about doing this. 

Place the peel, juice and water in a large bowl.

Put the pips and any pith into a muslin bag, tie tightly and add to the bowl.

Leave this all to soak overnight.....this is optional.

Rub the inside of a preserving pan with the butter and add contents of the bowl.

Bring slowly to the boil on a low heat. This should take about an hour. Then cover the pan and simmer gently for one and a half hours or until peel is tender.

Remove the bag of pips and set aside. I put them in a jug but a better idea is to put the bag in a sieve above a jug to catch the juice. This juice contains pectin which is important in the setting of the marmalade. Later, once the bag is cool enough, squeeze out as much juice as possible and add to the pan.

Add the sugar to the pan.

Stir over a low heat until all the sugar is dissolved.

Once the sugar is dissolved, bring to a rapid, rolling boil.

Boil for about half an hour, stirring every now and then to make sure the fruit doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

In the meantime, squeeze any juice from the cooled bag of pips and add this juice to the pan.

Put some saucers in the fridge for cooling.

After about half an hour of boiling, test to see if the marmalade is setting. 

I do this by putting a spoonful of marmalade on a cooled saucer, put back in the fridge and leave for a few minutes. Then if the marmalade forms a skin and makes a wrinkle, it is ready.

Whilst you are checking for setting, turn off the heat. Check every 5-10 minutes until set.

Once you are happy that the setting point has been reached, leave the marmalade for 10-20 minutes.

Then fill the sterilised, warm jars using a jam funnel if you have one. If not, then ladle in carefully. 

Top the jars with metal lids immediately and this will form a seal.

When cool add labels and pretty fabric tops!

Enjoy on toast!

I have a good old recipe for a Marmalade Pudding which I will definitely share with you soon!

Thanks for visiting!

Maggie xx