Homemade marmalade is a real treat and loved by B&B guests. And the very best of marmalades is that made with Seville oranges.

These days you can buy just about every fruit and vegetable all year round, but Seville oranges are one of the few fruits that you can still only buy in season. 

If you want to make some marmalade and Seville oranges aren't available, I highly recommend this Three Fruit Marmalade Recipe

In January, start looking out for these bitter oranges in your local greengrocers.  You can also occasionally find them in the supermarket. They are in season through to the end of February. I get very excited when they first appear, buying kilos of them to make the hundreds of jars of marmalade I get through at the B&B in a year. However after my 3rd batch I get bored of marmalade making.

I was explaining this dilemma to my lovely neighbours, when they provided me with the solution. Seville oranges freeze beautifully. You do not need to do anything with them apart from wash them, stick them in a bag and put them in the freezer. When you run out of marmalade you can cook them from frozen as per the recipe below.

My husband likes dark marmalade. To achieve this I replace 6oz of the white sugar with 6 oz of dark Muscovado sugar. The great thing about this recipe is because it is made in 2 batches you could make half ordinary marmalade and half Muscovado marmalade.

A few tips:

🍊Use a really large preserving pan. The marmalade does boil up to twice its volume when it's going at full boil.

🍊 Make sure you have a really hot heat to get it to boil properly ( the first time I made it, it took 6 hours to get to boiling point because my AGA hot plate wasn't hot enough! )

🍊 Allow a whole a day to make it. You can't rush the process. And it ALWAYS takes longer than you think it will. I prefer a cold gloomy day when there's a good black and white movie on the kitchen tv

🍊Never start marmalade making when you have B&B guests arriving that day. One of the laws of marmalade making is that, no matter what time you start the process, the doorbell will always go at the exact point you need to be focussing all of your attention on getting the marmalade to set! 😉

This recipe is based on Mary Berry's marmalade recipe.

Seville Orange Marmalade Recipe

Ingredients

1.5 kg Seville Oranges
Juice and pips of 2 lemons
3 kg granulated sugar
4 pints of water

Method

Put the sugar somewhere to warm. The airing cupboard ( or in an oven at lowest setting )  will do nicely.

Place a couple of saucers in the freezer ready to test whether the marmalade is set or not.

Put the oranges and lemon juice and pips into a large pan.

Pour in 4 pints of cold water. Add a bit extra if it does not cover the oranges.

Bring to the boil, then pop on the lid and simmer at the lowest heat possible for 2 hours or until the oranges are soft. You can also put them in a low oven or the bottom of the AGA if you have one.

When the oranges are tender, put a colander over a large deep plate and put the oranges into drain, leaving the cooking liquid in the pan for now.

When they have cooled enough to handle, cut the oranges in half and scoop out all of the pith and pips into the liquid in the pan.

Bring to the boil for 7 minutes with the lid off.

Strain the liquid through a sieve, pressing it through with a spoon. You need as much of this thick liquid as possible as it is full of pectin which will make the marmalade set.

You now put half of the liquid into a large preserving pan.

Put 1.5 kg of the warmed sugar into the pan.

Cut the peel into strips - as thin or as thick as you like ( this is much easier when the oranges are cooked than when doing it raw ). Add half of the peel to the pan.

Heat the liquid, sugar and peel on a low heat until all of the sugar has dissolved. Then increase the temperature until it is boiling and will not calm down even when you stir it. Then boil rapidly for 15-20 minutes.

Test for a set by putting a teaspoon of marmalade on a plate that has been in the freezer. If it is set then, after a minute, it will wrinkle up when you pull your finger through it.

If it hasn't set then return to the heat and boil for another 5 minutes and repeat the testing process.

Leave for 10 minutes then put into warm sterilised glass jars. Make sure the glass jars are warm and not straight from the oven or you could well end up with a mess of broken glass and hot marmalade.

The easiest way to sterilise the jars is by putting them in the dishwasher on the hottest setting. If you don't have time to do this then fill them half full of water then put them in the microwave on full power until the water has boiled for at least a minute .

I always use screw cap lids, which you can buy online  - much less hassle then waxed paper and cellophane.

Put the screw caps on as soon as the marmalade is in the jar, then label with the date when cool.

Repeat the whole process with the other half of the liquid, peel and sugar.

This recipe will make about 9 or 10 1lb jars of marmalade

Homemade marmalade is one of those little details that guests always comment on. For more little extras that your guests will love check out this blog post