Oranges, being expensive to import, were considered a luxury around 200years ago when the tradition of marmalade making was first recorded. Seville marmalade oranges, which are small and slightly bitter, are available for just a few short weeks in the early part of each year and are not always easy to find: I usually look for them around my birthday in mid-February. Home made marmalade cannot be beaten, despite it being rather labour intensive, but it is definitely worth the effort. Just play some favourite music or find something good on the radio to make the squeezing and chopping more enjoyable. My book contains two almost identical recipes: a light coloured one, called Seville Orange Marmalade and the second, a variation of the same recipe, called Dark Seville Marmalade. I discovered in other books that this second one, which is much darker in colour and always chunky, is often called ‘Oxford’ marmalade as it was first made and sold there, being popular with the university dons and students. Followers of the Oxford v Cambridge University boat race will be aware that the team colours are dark blue for Oxford and light blue for Cambridge. With this in mind, I have named the lighter colour ‘Cambridge’ marmalade, though I am aware that marmalade is not blue – or especially connected to Cambridge!
The recipe, which I have adapted for both types of marmalade, comes from my well used jam and pickle book: Home Preserves by Jackie Burrow. I found that 1½kg/3lb of Seville oranges yielded a too large quantity for my biggest pan, so I divided the mixture between two big pans after the initial cooking time before adding half the sugar to each pan. (This involved straining off the cooked peel as well as dividing the liquid.) The treacle needed to give a darker colour to Oxford marmalade was added to just one pan. Some Oxford marmalade recipes also add root ginger, up to 60g/2ozs (depending on personal taste) is suggested for the amount of oranges in my recipe. As with jams, marmalade cooked for too long can take on a tainted burned flavour. Dividing the mixture helped it to cook down to setting point quicker, so for this reason I may take this step again in future. Marmalade making is not a short job, so make sure you allow plenty of time. The original recipe said it would take 2 hours to cook but my total making and cooking time was nearer 5 hours, although this did include the time taken to divide the mixture into two pans, however once the marmalade is cooking it does not need constant watching. If you have freezer space, Seville oranges freeze well so they can be used at times when normally unavailable.

'Meanderings through my Cookbook' http://www.hopeeternalcookbook.wordpress.com
‘Oxford’ (& ‘Cambridge’) style Seville Marmalade
(Makes around 8 x 1lb jars)
1½kg/3lb Seville oranges
2 lemons
3½litres/6pints water
3¾kg/6lb sugar (if making just ‘Oxford’ marmalade then use brown sugar)
2 x 15ml (tablespoons) black treacle (‘Oxford’ marmalade only)
Up to 60g/2ozs root ginger, peeled & chopped/grated (personal preference) to taste – see above
1. Wash the oranges and lemons, halve and squeeze out the juice and pour into a large pan. Put the pips into a muslin bag (I use the cut off foot and lower leg from a clean pair of old tights) and tie so it dangles into the juice in the pan.
2. Slice the orange and lemon peel into shreds, thickness according to personal taste although traditional Oxford marmalade is very chunky. Add the shreds to the pan, pour in the water and bring to the boil. (If I was adding root ginger, which is not in the original recipe, I would add it at the same time as the peel.)
3. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 1½hours or until the peels are very soft. Remove the bag of pips, squeezing well so all the juice drops back into the pan. (Try using this between two spoons as the mixture will be hot.) This is to allow the pectin contained in the pips to help the marmalade to set. (It was at this point that I divided the mixture between two pans, straining the peels and liquid so they could be divided more equally.)
4. Put some saucers in the freezer to chill. These will be needed when the marmalade is checked to see if it has reached setting point.
5. Add the sugar (and treacle if you are making Oxford style marmalade) and stir well over a low heat until dissolved. Boil rapidly until setting point is reached – a teaspoon of mixture placed on a chilled saucer will wrinkle when pushed with a finger. Remove any scum that has collected – some people do this by adding a knob of butter but I have not found it to be successful.
6. Allow the mixture to cool slightly before potting. While it is cooling, wash the jars well and sterlise. I usually do this by filling the jars with boiling water and putting the lids in a bowl of boiling water. I pour away the water just before filling each jar and immediately take the lid from the bowl and screw it on.
7. Pour into the prepared jars, cover, wipe if needed and label.
Hi,
I have found your blog on Nigella’s forum.
It looks nice with yummy recipes.
I am a big fan of Nigella as you are, I guess. I love Nigella’s way of cooking and cook quite q lot from her books.
I have a blog of mine . If you want to have a look, here is the address:
http://natalya-cooking.blogspot.com/
Bon appetit and take pleasure from cooking !
Vishinka from Nigella’s forum or simply Natalya (that’s my real name)
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Hello Natalya
Thanks for visiting. I have visited your blog but it is mostly in French, which I speak a little, with some Russian, which I do not speak at all. It all looks very interesting but I will need to spend some time with my dictionary or Babelfish if I want to read it! Nigella is just one of the cookery writers I enjoy following, but I do agree that she has some lovely recipes.
I look forward to chatting with you and others on the forum – http://www.nigella.com
h/e
Wow….make your own jam! These are my favourite. I have to find some time to try out one of these days.
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Time consuming, but worth it, Mary! If I’m not careful I find I have missed the Seville Orange season, but you can make marmalade with sweet oranges too, as well as other citrus fruits. One family favourite is lime marmalade, which I have yet to try …
h/e
I’ve never heard of Cambridge Marmalade, but yours certainly looks good.
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The title is tongue-in-cheek: my own invention, Janice. Oxford is dark so therefore Cambridge must be light!
h/e
I enjoyed making all my Marmalade this year and blogging about it too! I hope you enjoy yours as much as I enjoy mine :)
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I love Marmalade: a lot of work but well worth it. I am not sure I would want to cook with my precious stock though! I have a lovely recipe for Fragrant Marmalade Cake with orange flower water as an added ingredient, but I buy a jar to use for that!
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I have a recipe for Green Tomato and Lemon Marmalade that I will be putting up on my Blog soon but if you are interested I can e-mail you a copy.
Hard to get Tate & Lyle treacle where I live (well not hard to get but a bit pricey for us pensioners) and I was thinking of using Brown sugar, will that work with your recipe?
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Welcome Peter:
Thanks so much for your kind offer. Sadly I don’t have any green tomatoes (don’t grow my own I’m afraid – perhaps I will one day!) I have just visited your site and have seen the recipe you mention: http://spadesandspatulas.blogspot.com/2011/10/waste-not-and-you-shall-eat-well.html.
As for your marmalade query, I don’t really know the answer. I am surprised you cannot get treacle as, unless I am mistaken, you live in the UK. However perhaps you don’t live near to one of the major supermarkets. (T&L treacle is still in a small red tin!) One thought is that you could try molasses instead although I find it more difficult to get than treacle! (This is very much a thought rather than a recommend but it would obviously taste a bit different.) Certainly brown sugar, especially dark brown, would give a more treacly result but I am not sure I would replace all the white with it, at least initially. Perhaps just a little and see how it goes? A comment here for others to follow giving either a recommendation on how much to use (or a warning!) would be really helpful.
I look forward to hearing from you again. I do hope you enjoy the marmalade, whatever you add! I have bookmarked your recipe in the hope that someone gives me some green tomatoes … perhaps next year.
h/e