Making marmalade seems to be one of those British winter pastimes whose traditions get passed down through the generations. The day that Seville oranges appear in the green grocers is nervously waited for, then several days are cleared to allow for the slicing and peeling, boiling and bottling, always allowing for a few extra jars to be handed out to those unfortunate enough not to have the time to partake.

I've made marmalade before using a traditional recipe, but this year decided to go for the whole fruit method.
I'd been recommended this technique by several friends who swore by how easy it was, particularly when it came to slicing the oranges.

The recipe I followed is on Delia Smith's website, although there are many variations to be found.

I found it a lot easier then my previous method, and helpful in that it can easily be split over two days.

  See here for the whole fruit marmalade recipe in detail.

Recipe Costs

£2.70 1.35 kg seville oranges
£0.70 2 lemons
£2.51 2.7 kg granulated sugar

£5.91 Total

£1.68 per kg of marmalade (about 75% of the cost of quality marmalade from tesco)

The oranges are scrubbed first and then put in a preserving pan with 3 litres of water, add the lemons in as well.

After they've been brought to the boil the top of the pan needs to be made steam tight to retain as much of the liquid as possible. I joined together two strips of foil and folded them around the rim.

After 3 hours of simmering, and resisting the temptation to peak, the fruit are nicely poached. Amazing how resilient the skins are, even after cooking for so long very few have split. Be careful if you poke them with a knife at this point, I had one spray hot juice at me.

When the oranges have cooled down a bit they can be cut in half and the softened pips and flesh easily scraped out using a metal spoon.

The peel is put to one side and the pips and flesh put in a new pan with 500ml of the poaching liquid.
Open up the lemons and remove the pips and flesh, and add this to the orange flesh, discard the lemon peel.

This is then simmered for ten minutes to extract the pectin, then strained through muslin and a sieve. The liquid is put back in the preserving pan and the pulp discarded.

While the pulp is simmering the peel can be sliced. This is where the poaching again helps, very little effort (and a good sharp knife) is needed to reduce a bowl of half oranges ...

... to a pile of sliced peel, which is added back to the preserving pan.

I stopped at this point and had a nights sleep, leaving the pan covered with a cloth on the stove top.

The sugar is pre-warmed in the oven, which helps it dissolve when added to the pan.

The poaching liqueur, pectin rich liquid, peel and sugar are all combined in the preserving pan...

... then gently brought to the boil, stirring to make sure all the sugar dissolves.

The marmalade is then gently boiled for 3 - 4 hours until it has reached setting point. This is tested for this using the wrinkle test on a plate taken from the freezer.
By this time the preserve has turned a rich dark colour and was smelling delicious.

Allow to cool for half an hour, so the peel doesn't float to the top, then pot in sterilised jars.

Recipe Timings

15 minutes First Preparation
3 hours Simmering

40 minutes Second Preparation
3 hours Simmering
30 minutes Standing

15 minutes Bottling