A day of making marmalade and sleet

 In the first lockdown here in England, everyone started making sourdough bread. In the second lockdown, baking banana loaves were a craze, and in this lockdown, making marmalade seems to be THE thing.

Sourdough baking and making marmalade take time, and that is one thing many of us have during lockdown. Unless you're a parent and homeschooling that is.

I haven't made marmalade for a number of years and to be fair,  I wasn't going to this year either.  Until I went to Waitrose to buy some food and spotted a few boxes of Seville oranges at half price. Call me a cheapskate but I do like bagging a bargain.

I was going to buy two boxes but there two others behind me also wanting to a box, so selflessly I only took one box. That was a mistake ...

Snow which didn't settle and sleet came on Saturday with a biting wind. I didn't want to go out, so marmalade making was definitely on the agenda.

I rather like Pam the Jam's recipes....she's the preserves maker from River Cottage, and I've watched some of her videos on youtube. Wonderfully relaxed and quietly spoken, you know you're in safe hands with her.

First of all, I did as I was told and took what Pam Corbin calls the "little bottoms" off the Seville oranges 

before slicing them in half, juicing them and taking all the pips and pith out of all them.

Then came the rather long-winded business of cutting the rind into very thin slices, but it's the sort of activity that seemed just right for a quiet sleety Saturday especially whilst enjoying listening to the radio or a playlist. I chose a catch up on BBC sounds listening to the final instalments of the wonderful serialisation of "The Snow and the Works on the Northern Line " by Ruth Thomas, which I really enjoyed. A story of an accident, heartbreak, and ultimately revenge.

The pips and pith were wrapped up and tied tight  in a piece of muslin and popped into the pan along with the juice and some water, 

and simmered away for about ninety minutes. The glorious scent of oranges filled the whole kitchen in a warm, aromatic hug and brought back memories of various trips to Spain. Not that I spent my holidays making marmalade you understand. I was remembering my first ever visit to Spain, that was Sitges when I was ten. The first time I ever saw oranges growing on the trees near our hotel in Soller was two years later and the last time I went to Spain was a  couple of years ago. We were staying near the orange groves at a friends villa by a golf course near Torrevieja. 

It was time to add the sugar, The lovely Pam used golden granulated, but I went off piste and used a  mixture of granulated and demerara sugar, which worked well.

I must admit I started panicking when, despite achieving a lovely thunderous boiling roll for well over ten to fifteen minutes, my marmalade still hadn't reached setting point. Another ten minutes passed, but my friend Josephine advised patience on our whatsapp group. "It will set." So, I poured the marmalade into the jars and even after a couple of hours, I wasn't hopeful. 

Patience is a virtue, and the following morning , there were jars of perfectly set marmalade. Delicous marmalade which such a depth of flavour I've not tasted for quite a long time - since I last made marmalade in fact. Smothered on my seeded sourdough bread, with a strong hit of coffee, it's a  wonderful way to start my mornings.

It was far cheaper to make than buy too, so next January, I know what will be on the top my to-do list. 

Making marmalade again! More of it though, as I shall be buying at least three boxes of Seville oranges next time.

You can follow Pam's recipe on the River Cottage youtube channel  here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au3UEXpfFNA

Meanwhile, on my book wish list is The Book of Preserves by Pam the Jam, published in 2019 by Bloomsbury. I shall be needing it later in the year for all the fruit I'm growing organically on my allotment.