| Makes | Depends on the quantity of fruit used |
| Preparation Time | 12 to 24 hours |
| Cooking Time | 3 to 6 hours |
Basic Marmalade
Even good shop-bought marmalade can never match what can be made at home from just three simple ingredients – citrus fruit, water and sugar. The problem with modern marmalade-making is that today’s cook tops don’t always oblige when it comes to getting large amounts of marmalade up to a rolling boil, without which traditional marmalade stubbornly refuses to set. So the trick is don’t try and make too large a quantity in one go.
Ingredients
- Citrus fruit (seville oranges make the best marmalade)
- Water (the water should only just cover the fruit)
- Sugar (sugar quantity should be the same as the amount of fruit)
Method
- Scrub the fruit with warm soapy water and a scourer to remove any of the wax that is often coating fruit, especially citrus fruit.
- Slice the unpeeled fruit thinly and remove all the seeds.
- Place the fruit in the saucepan, and only just cover with the water, and let stand overnight.
- The next day, bring the fruit and water to the boil and boil until the rinds are soft – about 1 hour.
- Add the sugar all at once and stir until it’s completely dissolved, about 10–15 minutes.
- Boil the marmalade until it will jell set when tested.
- Sterilise the jars for bottling.
- Fill the jars with the marmalade, place the lid on immediately, and set aside to cool.
- Label the marmalade with type and date of bottling. For a great selection of downloadable preserve label artwork that you can use to print off your own personalised labels, visit www.preservelabels.com.
