There's nothing quite like marmalade on toast, and homemade is even more delicious. Seville oranges are in season from the end of December to the middle of February, but they can be frozen whole and enjoyed year-round.
If you do try your hand at making your own, here are 10 golden rules for perfect marmalade-making...
1. Know your fruit
If you're making marmalade from December to February, you’d better have a good excuse for not using seasonal, knobbly-skinned Seville oranges.
Their sharp, bitter juice marries with the sugar to make a perfectly balanced, sweet but pleasantly bitter preserve, filled with fresh fruit flavour. Organic Seville oranges are better for marmalade, as you are including peel (non-organic fruit is likely to have been sprayed with pesticides). Whether organic or not, it’s advisable to lightly scrub skins under running water.
For the rest of the year, savour the flavour of other citrus fruits – such as regular juicing oranges, grapefruits, lemons and limes.
2. Go slow...
Marmalade is a classic, slow-food experience. Turn on the radio and take your time over every step of the recipe. There’s no quick fix.
After all, once you have a jangling tray of marmalade-filled jars, the fruit of this winter ritual can be enjoyed through the rest of the year. It’s an investment.
3. Kit yourself out properly
A maslin pan is a must. Its heavy bottom dissipates heat for an even boil, and the wide, deep sides ensure an efficient and even evaporation as well as preventing too many hot splutters of boiling preserve.
BUY NOW Maslin Jam Pan, Lakeland
Muslin squares are needed for most marmalade recipes to gather the pectin-rich pips and peel into a pouch (see pectin tips below). Tie with kitchen string or a thick rubber band.
A sugar thermometer is very useful for amateur marmalade makers. You can use the wrinkle or flake test (see testing tips below), but an accurate temperature from a sugar thermometer that has been safely clamped on to the side of the pan and reads 104.5˚C shows plain and clear that setting point has been reached.
Jam or Kilner-style jars with tight fitting lids are essential. There's loads on the market. The most important thing is to sterilise and pot the jam correctly.
A wide-necked funnel isn’t essential, but it is useful for reducing mess when potting.
4. Understand pectin
Pectin is the glue that sets marmalades and jams to a glossy gel. Different types of fruit contain varying levels of naturally occurring pectin. The pips and pith of Seville oranges are particularly rich in pectin. This is why your Seville orange marmalade recipe will ask you to collect the pips and pith in a muslin pouch to simmer with the chopped peel before the sugar is added. The long simmer releases the pectin into the liquid and is usually followed by a good squeeze of the muslin pouch to ensure every last bit has made it into your marmalade to make it set.
5. Perfect that peel
Thin, medium or thick-cut peel is really a matter of preference but, whatever you choose, stick with it. ‘Best’ marmalade should be filled with perfectly uniform shreds, and these take time to slice, so pop on the radio and chop with patience. The peel also needs to be very soft before pouring in the sugar as it will not soften any more after the sugar is added. This is why some recipes require an overnight soak (see timings tip below).
6. Choose the right sugar
It is sugar that preserves marmalade, and with such a large proportion of it in your preserve it’s a good idea to understand which to choose.
Avoid caster sugar – its fine crystals are ideal for creating a fine crumb in baking, but in marmalade making you want larger crystals that will dissolve slowly.
Granulated is the go-to sugar for marmalade making. Its larger crystals will dissolve quickly and cleanly, making a clear, amber liquid that best displays your perfectly suspended peel. White granulated and the unrefined golden granulated taste quite different to each other, and it’s worth experimenting. White granulated makes a brighter marmalade, whereas golden creates a darker preserve and adds delicious, caramel tones.
Dark brown sugars and treacle add depth and darkness to make moody marmalades. They should be added only if the recipe calls for them or when you are really confident at creating your own recipe.
Preserving sugar has even larger crystals than granulated for a slower dissolve, so lessens the need to stir and skim. It also creates less froth for a clearer preserve.
Jam sugar contains added pectin and is normally unnecessary for Seville orange marmalade due to the high, naturally occurring levels of pectin in the fruit. You may need to use this in marmalade made with juicing oranges to boost pectin and aid setting.
Some recipes ask you to heat the sugar in a low oven before adding it to the pan. This stops the temperature in the pan from decreasing when the sugar is added and, consequently, reduces cooking time, which is preferable; shorter cooking time = brighter fruit flavour.
Don't forget: all the sugar crystals must be dissolved before you turn up the temperature and boil for setting point. This may take 20 minutes or more.
7. Know that timings are key
Some recipes call for you to soak the peel overnight before cooking. This means it will take less time to soften in cooking. Shorter cooking will result in a brighter, fruit flavoured marmalade. Longer cooking makes for a mean and moody marmalade.
8. Sterilise
Marmalade makes a great gift, but to avoid any unwanted (mouldy) surprises, sterilise jars and equipment just before the marmalade is brought to a rolling boil to set. Wash jam jars, lids and rubber Kilner-style jar rings in hot soapy water. Rinse, then transfer just the jars and lids to a roasting tin and heat in an oven preheated to 140°C (120°C fan) gas 1, for 20min. Keep all marmalade-making utensils that are going to come in contact with your nectar (such as teaspoons, ladles, wide-neck funnels and rubber Kilner-style jar rings) in a large pan or stock pot covered in water on a low boil to keep them scrupulously clean. Dip metal tongs into the boiling water to sterilise these as well before lifting utensils out, allowing them to cool in the air briefly before using.
9. Test for setting point
This is a key part in all marmalade and preserve making. Once the sugar has melted and the syrup is clear, you increase the temperature to a ‘rolling boil’, where the mixture will bubble vigorously all over the pan. On boiling, the pectin, sugar and acidic fruit will work together to make the marmalade set. It’s worth noting that Seville orange marmalade should never be stiff – it should have a jelly-like set and spread easily. There are three ways to test for setting point, the stage at which the preserve will set once it has cooled to room temperature:
‘The wrinkle test’ –
Put some saucers in the freezer to chill for this test. After the marmalade has been on a rolling boil for 15min, remove it from heat and spoon a little (using a sterilised teaspoon) on to a cold saucer. Leave for a minute to cool, then push your finger through the mixture – the marmalade’s surface will wrinkle if it is set. If it’s not, re-boil for another 5min, then repeat the test. Levels of pectin are different in all Seville oranges, so it may take up to 35min to reach setting point.
‘The flake test’ –
Some marmalade purists use the flake test. Dip a wooden spoon into the marmalade, hold above the pan and rotate a few times. A set marmalade will drop from the spoon in a flake of drips.
‘The failsafe test’ –
Using a sugar thermometer, which can be safely clamped on to the side of your maslin pan, is a great option for amateurs. The temperature needed for the setting point is 104.5°C. At this point, you can remove your pan from the boil and use the wrinkle test, if you like, to see how a set marmalade behaves.
10. Pot perfectly!
The jam needs to settle and thicken slightly for 15min in the pan so the peel will be suspended throughout the marmalade. If you pot while it’s hot, the peel will float to the top of the jars.
Sterilised jars, however, need to be filled while still hot – so can be kept in the switched-off oven if your marmalade hasn’t yet reached setting point.
Keep jars in their roasting tin from the oven while filling them with a sterilised ladle. The tin will collect any drips – and there are sure to be some, no matter how carefully you try to fill the jars.
Fill jars as full as possible for the least amount of ‘head space’, where air in contact with your marmalade might lead to contamination.
If your jam jars have tight-fitting lids there is no need for wax discs, but some people like to use them for nostalgic reasons (Lakeland sells them, from £2.79 for 200). Before screwing on the lid, add wax discs, shiny side down, to the surface of the marmalade to create a seal. Screw on the lid while hot.
Give jars a final screw once cool and clean off any stickiness with a hot, wet cloth.
If labelling with sticky labels, wait until the jars are cold before sticking these on.
