Guess who just got back today? 
No, not another album of Thin Lizzy’s greatest hits, but Seville oranges are in the supermarkets everywhere, hoorah! They are only in season for a few weeks so rush out now and buy some! If you are a marmalade virgin, this is your perfect chance to have the ultimate first experience. Do allow yourself some time, however as you have to pre-cook the oranges before you can start on the fun marmalade stuff.
Why are they so popular? Originating from Seville in Spain (ok, so it was in the name), these are no ordinary oranges; for a start they are sour and full of pips which makes them very unpleasant to eat raw BUT they make amazing marmalade. Their flavour lends itself to the most exquisite bitter sweet taste but the best bit is that because they have so many pips, they are jam packed (no pun intended) of pectin, which means it’s incredibly easy to get the marmalade to set. No sweating with jam thermometers and guessing whether it really will gel or not, especially if you use my fool proof recipe, you will have success. The only downside of my lovely recipe is that it is a really old one and so is in pounds rather than metric, which makes the metric quantities look a bit odd.
You will Need: At least 1lb of Seville oranges (450g), Double the weight in sugar e.g. 2 lbs of preserving sugar (900g) and 2 pints of water. You will also need clean, sterilised jam jars and lids, you can also use little waxed triangles if you wish. I have made masses today, so I actually used 7 ½ lbs of oranges and 15lbs of sugar!
John loves the really dark marmalade, so I generally make half of each, and so to make a really rich version, you will need 1 tablespoon of black treacle for every pound or 450g of sugar.
How to do it:
Place your oranges in a very large saucepan or preserving pan and cover with the water- Place on a high heat and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat until it simmers, cover and leave for 2 hours or until you can poke the oranges easily with a skewer or fork.(I do this the day before and then leave them
overnight to cool in the cooking water, which makes them even more tender. - Once the oranges have cooled, fish them out from the pan, making sure you leave the cooking water in
- Scoop out all the seeds and place the seeds back in the water
Bring to the boil and boil on high for 10 minutes – this releases all the lovely pectin from the seeds- Whilst the liquid is boiling, chop up the oranges to your taste, or if you are lazy like me, chuck them in a food processer and pulse a few times. Don’t be tempted to over blitz it, or you will get mush.
Place a small plate in the freezer…yes, I mean it! This is so that it is easy to check whether your marmalade will set later. With a slotted spoon, fish out all the seeds and throw them away. Sorry lovely friends, I always miss quite a few, so watch out for the odd rogue seed in your pots!
Bring the liquid back to the boil and add the sugar. Now, the stalwarts of the WI would probably tell you to warm your sugar first, but when you are using Seville oranges, it’s really unnecessary. I also go for “belt and braces” and use jam sugar which adds even more to the pectin content.
If you want the dark marmalade, add 1 dessertspoon of black treacle for each pound of sugar now. 
Stir until all the sugar is dissolved and then reduce the heat, but make sure it is bubbling nicely
Place your clean jam jars in the oven on Gas Mark 4, 180 degrees non-fan, 160 fan for 10 minutes to sterilise them. If you are using lids, put them in a 
jug and pour boiling water all over them. (Why bother sterilising? It’s because the air is full of random yeast and if you don’t kill of as much as possible, it may cause your marmalade to go mouldy).
- Leave it bubbling undisturbed except for the occasional check to make sure it is not sticking to the bottom for 15 minutes.
- Start to check if has reached setting consistency, by taking a teaspoon full of the marmalade and placing it on your cold plate from the freezer. Leave it a couple of minutes and then push the top with your finger; it should go thick and wrinkly which means it will set. If it doesn’t form a skin, keep boiling the marmalade checking every 5 minutes, but most will be fine after 15.
Now….decant your hot, lovely marmalade in to your jars, place a waxed circle on the top and screw the lids on.
Allow them to cool, make a piece of hot, crusty toast, add liberal amounts of butter and top with your own, lovely, lovely marmalade. 
It’s so easy! Look how much I actually ended up making, hopefully that will last us for ages. There are loads of other things to do with your Seville oranges as well as make marmalade, one of my favourites is that you can infuse them in a preserving jar with vodka or gin and a bit of sugar. Also don’t forget if you have made marmalade that you can use it for my easy Marmalade Bread and Butter pudding or you can use it in a steamed sponge…..more marmalade-type recipes to follow, including smearing it all over the top of a roasted duck.
The Bombay Boys 