Whisky Honey Seville Orange Marmalade

Have you ever made marmalade?  If not, why not?  It's really easy, all you need is time and a large pan....  Having said that, the recipe below needs a preserving pan, and if you don't have one, just halve the quantities and do it in your largest standard pan.   It's all about evaporation, and you just have to watch that the jam doesn't boil over the straight sides of a standard pan. The next most important thing is to harvest all the pips and white pith from the inside of the oranges, as it is that which makes the marmalade set.   Hang the pith/pip collection in a muslin bag (or if no muslin, some thin material) in the pan so that you can get the pectin into the finished marmalade.

There's a lot of snobbery about marmalade - the thickness of the cut, the darkness of the mix, blah blah blah.   I have tried it lots of different ways, and have to say that I prefer a light gel, with a good flavour, and not too many enormous chunks of fruit.  The addition of honey (my friend Jan's amazing suggestion) and whisky, adds a little extra to the classic Seville Orange marmalade.   I also put a large spoonful of chopped ginger in syrup into a couple of the jars, so there'll be a kick of ginger too.

This year's batch I put through the food processor's slicer, so the fruit is very finely shredded, and actually means I eat more of it, instead of picking off the chunks.   It's up to you - bear in mind that it will take longer to cook if you have larger pieces.  

Whisky Honey Seville Orange Marmalade

Whisky and Honey Marmalade

3lb/1.4 kg Seville oranges

Juice of 2 lemons

6 pints/3.4 litres of water

5 ½ lb/2.5kg sugar

½ jar of runny honey

¼ pint/150ml whisky

(If liked – teaspoons of chopped ginger in syrup)

Cut the oranges in half and squeeze out the juice and pips, plus any white pith (which comes away easily – I tend to scoop it straight out of the halved oranges).   Put the pips and pith into a muslin bag and hang it at the side of the pan.   Slice the oranges as thinly or thickly as you like.   Put the oranges, orange and lemon juice and water into the pan with the muslin and simmer for at least an hour and a half, probably two hours if the chunks are large, so that the peel is very soft, and the amount of liquid has reduced by almost half. 

Squeeze out the muslin bag to extract the last gooey pectin in the pith, then add the sugar and heat the mixture gently until the sugar has dissolved, then boil it for about 15 minutes or so until you have reached setting point (when a cooled dollop of the mixture on a cold plate wrinkles if you push your finger into it).    Take off the heat and add the honey and the whisky.  Stir it in. 

Leave the marmalade for 15 minutes and then stir it before potting it.  Pour the marmalade into clean, warmed pots (put the ginger in at this stage), and cover with waxed paper circles to prevent mould growth.   Top with solid lids, or cellophane pot covers. 

This makes about 10lb/4.5kg of beautiful golden marmalade.