I'm a bit unsure about Onion marmalade, not the taste or concept, just the naming of it. In my mind a marmalade is a fruit preserve, made from citrus fruit. However, fashion has invented a version using onions, which I guess tends to be sweeter and more jam like than an onion chutney, so I was tempted into trying it out using some of the onions still laid out in the greenhouse.

I tried to keep the recipe simple and not go down the 'slow caramalised heritage variety red and white onion marmalade with single estate vintage balsamic vinegar' route. I did succumb to the addition of caraway seeds, as I'd never seen these used in a preserve before.

The recipe I used was adapted from the one at the chutney recipes blog.

  See here for the onion marmalade recipe.

Recipe Costs

£0.89 1.2kg onions (equivalent cost, mine were free)
£0.02 3 tbsp salt
£0.79 500ml vinegar (cider or white wine)
£ 0.84 900g granulated sugar
£0.46 1 1/2 tsp cloves
£0.25 tsp caraway seeds
£3.25 Total (£2.29 without buying the onions)
£2.70 per kg of marmalade (£1.90 per kg without buying the onions - 17.5% of the cost of equivalent at confit direct)

The brown onions were chopped reasonably finely, a bit of a chore as my homegrown ones tend to bring on floods of tears, the sort where you have to leave the room and stagger around waving your hands in front of your face. These were salted for a hour, then rinsed.

Plain granulated sugar, and cider vinegar, heated gently until the sugar is dissolved. I find digital scales really useful for accurately weighing out ingredients.

Cloves are tied in a piece of muslin, the recipe suggests that rosemary can be added instead of caraway seeds, I'd be tempted to put this in the muslin as well. This is then simmered in the sugar and vinegar mixture to start the flavours infusing.

 Seeds and onions are added to the mixture, and simmered until thick.

The marmalade was put into hot, steralised jars after about three hour, in hindsight this was probably 30 minutes too long, as some setting occurred in the jars.

Recipe Timings

15 mins preparation
1 hour sitting
3 hours simmering
15 mins potting

Taste Test

Sweet,with a not too strong taste of onions, there's a slight hint of warmth from the cloves and caraway.