This month I was devastated to realise that my summer stock pile of jams was finished. I expected my supply to last me, at the very least, through the winter months. While I like to put a very fine layer of jam or marmalade on my toast, just enough to savour the flavour and still experience a crunch, Mr Fresh is one of those people who slathers on a very thick layer. He also introduced my young children to dollops of berry jam on their cereal… thus the fast disappearing jam issue I was faced with.
I cannot bring myself to purchase a jar of jam from the supermarket so I set to work to re-stock the pantry with marmalades, utilising some of the glorious citrus fruit currently in season in Australia. It could be said that I have been a little overzealous in my endeavour – making two varieties of tangelo marmalade, an orange marmalade, and a blood orange and rosemary jelly.
The lovely little tangelos that I collected from a local farm-gate have a candy-like flavour that is not quite as sweet as orange, and I like to cut the sweetness of the fruit by adding another strong flavour. We like our marmalade to be similar to the texture of jam so I tend to remove much of the peel prior to potting. I freeze the peel that I remove from the pot in ice cube trays and use it in baking as required. Remember it is important to ensure that you use spray free fruit when making marmalades and jams, and source them from a reputable supplier.
Are you heavy or light handed with your marmalade application?
[Editor note: Kyrstie has been kind enough to provide a copy of her e-book ‘Bottling the Goodness – Preserving from my Garden’ for us to giveaway to Seasonal Sunday Lunch readers. Read her thoughts on preserving all year-round and enter to win!]
- 800 g tangelos, washed and thinly sliced
- 170 g lemons, washed and thinly sliced
- 1 litre water
- 4 whole cloves
- 1 ½ kilo sugar
- 1 ½ tsp Cointreau or other orange liquor
- Add the fruit, water and cloves to a large pan and simmer over low heat for 1 ½ hours.
- Add the sugar and stir until it dissolves.
- Bring to a fast boil for 12-15 minutes – stirring a few times to prevent peel from sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning. Make sure you are keeping a close eye to ensure that it does not boil over.
- Start testing for setting point at 12 mins. (see note)
- Stir in Cointreau, remove pot from heat, skim the surface of excess froth and pot into hot sterilised jars.
- Leave to cool on the bench, prior to storing in a cool dry place. [br]Use the marmalade within 6-8 months.
Photo Credit: Kyrstie Barack
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