Marmalade magic

Marmalade seems to be one of those things that people either love or loathe.

There was always marmalade in our house and my father's favourite treat, a happily received gift or precious purchase for high days and holidays, was a jar of Rose's Lime marmalade.

Source

When that wasn't available and before my mother stopped working full time, marmalade came out of a tin. After we moved to Grahamstown and she worked mornings only, she began doing more preserves. Marmalade became a "thing" because the commercial stuff was too sweet. They liked the more tart, slightly bitter flavour of Seville oranges - she scoured the shops and markets for them. As I recall, she only ever made orange marmalade. Never lemon; most certainly never three fruit. I have no idea why because, as I have learned, it's possible to manipulate the flavour of the three fruit - see below - to get the flavour profile one prefers.

Mum's go-to recipe ~~was~~ is in her Good Housekeeping recipe book which Granny sent to South Africa as Mum's Christmas present in 1970. I inherited it and it is still my go-to book for the standards and basics.

It works hard and is full of my (and The Husband's) notes converting British Imperial measures to metric and ramping up the recipes to make larger quantities.

At boarding school, there would be pots of marmalad on the breakfast table. Of course it was the commercial version and girls spent a great deal of time - if they ate the stuff - fishing out the rind. Until the pots were more rind than jelly.

I also like marmalade and I can't remember not having it in my cupboard. When I lived alone, it was a weekend treet, on hot buttery toast. Or if I needed a snack when I came in late after an evening out and it was prudent to have something to eat before crashing.

Glorious yellow, lemon marmalade with a light rye toast from the local market. And, of course, butter.

I first made marmalade nearly 20 years ago. I balled up the instructions and after cutting and chopping things for what felt like the entire day, I just bunged everything into the pot and hoped for the best. It certainly wasn't the best, but it was edible. Nor was I deterred. Before we came to McGregor, I would generally make a batch that would last us roughly a year - depending on how many jars were turned into gifts. Practise, if not making perfect, resulted in the production of a perfectly passable product.

In McGregor, the tradition continued. I've had a stall at the McGregor market for six years and I started with soup. I don't recall at which point my offering expanded to include the odd jar of what I pickled and preserved; soup now rarely features.

Sometimes the table is a trifle weighed down!

Now, it seems, the marmalade is becoming a sought-after commodity. Not only do I have kind locals and friends from further afield collecting jars for me to repurpose, but Longtime Friend puts in her order when she announces an intention to visit. What's more, she demands a giant-sized portion. Certain regulars, when it's out of stack, pass my stall and give me a quizzical, "Marmalade?"

Recently, some of them gave up hope. Almost.

I've had no stock until about six weeks ago and they-who-have-been-waiting-forever, and with, I kid you not, squeals of delight, have already purchased a goodly number (one of whom tells me that a jar lasts two weeks...). So, I've made a further two batches. One, a lemon and lime from ~~surplus~~ unwanted fruit, and the second, my usual three fruit, also from surplus fruit with the addition of oranges which did have to be bought.

My tried and trusted marmalade recipe(s)

First, some words to the wise:

don't rush the process: it takes as long as it takes - at least several hours with the chopping, boiling, and boiling and bottling
don't rush the process: it takes as long as it takes - don't think it's set before it's set. Test, test and test again.
don't rush the process: if you do, and it does not set, all is not lost: empty the jars back into the pot, wash and sterilise them, boil up again until setting point is reached - more of that a bit later

I double the three fruit recipe and the lemon/lime recipe I triple, to make big batches.

Three-Fruit Marmalade

Yield: ± 5kg

Ingredients

4 lemons 2 sweet oranges 2 grapefruit 3,5 litres of water 2,5kg sugar

What to do

The three types of fruit should weigh about 1,5 kg. For a tarter, less sweet marmalade, use either Seville oranges or juse one orange.
Wash the lemons and oranges, cut in half and juice; put the juice into the stock pot and save the pips (depending on where you're from, i.e. the seeds or the pits).
Wash and peel the grapefruit. Remove the thick pith and string, save to combine with the pips, and tie into a piece of muslin.*
Roughly cut up the grapefruit flesh and add to the pot with the orange and lemon juices.
Thinly slice all the peel (can be done in a food processor, but I have resumed hand chopping - it takes as much time when you've had to fish out and chop the bits that "escape" and are too big) and add to the pot with the grapefruit flesh and the juices. Drop the muslin bag in, and tie it to the handle of the pan.
Add the water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 1 to 1½ hours – the peel must be really soft and the contents of the pot have been reduced by about 50%.
Remove the muslin bag, squeezing out as much of the liquid as possible. Dispose of the contents and save the muslin for the next batch.
Add the sugar, bring to the boil and simmer, stirring frequently, until setting point is reached.**
Remove from the heat and allow to stand for 15 minutes.
Pot into sterilised jars and seal.

Lemon and/or Lime Marmalade

Yield: ± 2,5kg

Ingredients

500g lemons 1,5 litres water 2,5 kg sugar

What to do

Wash the fruit and remove the stem end.
Place in a pan with the water and cover with a tight-fitting lid. Simmer for 1½ to 2 hours until the fruit is really soft. This can be done the night before so that the fruit cool enough to handle.
Remove the fruit from the water; leave it in the pot, don't throw it away (set it to one side).
Slice the fruit thinly and save the pips (see three fruit marmalade).
Return the sliced fruit to the pan (and water). Weigh it. If it weighs more than 1,5 kg, bring to the boil to reduce.
Add the sugar, bring to the boil and simmer, stirring frequently, until setting point is reached.**
Remove from the heat and allow to stand for 15 minutes.
Pot into sterilised jars and seal.

* I have loads of muslin - a story for another time. That said, do get some: it's re-useable. Machine wash it when you're done. Remember that boiling fruit is more than 100ºC and for a ling time, so it'll sterilise during the cooking process.

Both marmalade recipes are available to download and print here

**About setting point

I have never used a sugar thermometer to tell me about setting point (perhaps that's my problem). Jams and jellies set with the help of pectin. Pectin, in citrus is in the pith (white parts) and pips. It's also found in spades in apple pips. So, for the person who said that they couldn't get their jams to set: do the muslin thing with pips from lemons and/or apples.

I digress.

How do you know when setting point is beginning to happen?

First, you will see that some of the mixture catches on the sides of the pan, and if you put the spoon across the top, the drips don't fall all the way into the pan; an even more telling sign is if, when you've not stirred it for a while, it looks as though a skin may begin to form across the top of the mixture. The test I use:

a small ceramic dish into which I put about 2 tsp of the hot almost-marmalade
put this into the deep freeze for 10 minutes
when you remove it from the deep freeze and brush your finger across the top, the marmalade sticks to your finger and is the right consistency for a jam or marmalade, you have reached setting point
if not, rinse and repeat

Maintaining the levels...

Just when I thought I was catching my breath with a few jars of lemon and lime, as well as a new batch to put into stock, I was chucked a curved ball. So, on Wednesday, seven jars of the new batch were collected for personal delivery, in Maastricht, to a rather famous fiddle-playing, orchestra-leading waltz-player. It's the third time some has gone there; the first time as an unsolicited gift from our Dutch friends. Now the friends are asked to take a supply, and each time the orders get bigger.

There must be some magic in that marmalade.

Until next time
Fiona
The Sandbag House
McGregor, South Africa

Photo: Selma

Post Script

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