Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Marmalade



Darker marmalade is Mrs. Beeton's 1886 recipe
made by Corti Bros Market. Lighter is blood
orange, cara cara and grapefruit mix marmalade.




This is the direct result of my newly acquired reputation of becoming a Seville orange fanatic.

Remember that friend who suggested I shimmy up a tree or two?

The very same enrolled in a marmalade making class and graced me with 1.78 pounds of prepared mixed citrus, packed in water requiring explicit pampering. They should have checked into a spa.

As I saw it, the main problem was having no jam making experience whatsoever, but my friend, since the age of twelve, was not to be deterred and handed over the infamous local instructor's directions. It was unique; the sole source of pectin came from seeds stewing along side the fruit in a cloth bag.

"Where are the seeds?" I asked.

"My oranges didn't have any."

As per my usual modus operendi, I made a few bumbling errors.

A) Misunderstood all fruit was to be cooked together and no, they were not for individual types of jam.
B) Forgot about and left the sugar warming in the oven for an hour instead of ten minutes. Luckily no house fire to report.
C) Didn't realize the seeds needed to soak in the water along side the oranges to soften.
D) Cheesecloth and muslin are not interchangable.

Surprisingly, it turned out edible. Quite nice, infact. Still, I didn't want to risk botulism and put two jars in the freezer and one in the frig. Makes me wish I had eaten real marmalade while in England, lo those many years ago, as an au pair. I could have happily slathered it across the malted fruit bread I ate morning, noon and night.

And the Seville festival update? What are the chances an article on the city's Sevilles and the wanton waste came out in the local paper Monday, the very day HCB True Orange Genoise tales posted? The politics involved......I'm on the city councilman's "call back" list.

7 comments:

  1. Wow! Vicki, you made your own seville orange jam?! Can i have a bottle too? :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Faithy, I should have made Seville marmalade with all the rind I threw away, but didn't have a clue what to do. This is a mix the instructor chose. I'm thinking of getting some more Seville's and giving it a go! They're still on the trees.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Vicki, do you have a link to that article? I'd love to read it.
    D'oh! We all should have made marmalade from our seville orange rinds! Dang.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Incredible. I was half expecting that marmalade resulted from you shimmying up the trees.

    My sevilles were chockablock with seeds. I definitely think you should go into business - seville orange curd with marmalade as well. Absolutely no waste (aside from all those egg whites!!!).

    Call back lists - ha! I say go ahead and do it. Count me in!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. http://www.sacbee.com/1269/story/2520513.html

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great article and I totally agree... such a waste! And I love your idea of the festival.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Next year during the season, we should all make the cake again, and marmalade too! What a great idea.

    ReplyDelete