since I don't need an answer to it now.

I have, a number of times. I use the recipe in the attached link - note this is a UK recipe so 1 pint = 20 US ounces more or less.

I also don't 'warm the jars in the oven' etc. but can in a boiling water bath as per instructions for making jam.

Interestingly enough in this recipe i have NOT used 'bitter oranges' but I have used Minneola Tangelos and Clementines. Both give good results. I have also made blood orange marmalade which was also awesome.

Here is a link that might be useful: marmalade

I make it, usually around Christmastime when we often get gifts of baskets of oranges. I also hot water bath mine, like I would jam.

I cut my teeth on Keiller's Dundee marmalade but find that it is too strong for the average American's taste. In fact, there are many people who will not even try my marmalades, convinced before the fact that they won't like it. LOL.

So, I take great are in removing the white pith under the skin as that is often bitter, and I also have used much less of the peel than is often called for in many directions. I often modify parts of the receipt not essential to it setting properly and sometimes mix the citrus I use. Even though I use bulk pectins, I've found the one on the Sure Jell directions makes a decent and easy product. I also use an old pre-WWII cooking book directions.

Thank you both! (I thought I was nearly double-posting since cabrita found her post and brought it forward.)

conate

That Seville Orange Marmalade recipe looks great, and I will try it when I can find the oranges. See, I don't have the canning stuff since I freeze what's harvested, so if the marmalade will set without processing in a hot water bath, I can do that.

My mother used the wax method to top off jams and preserves when I was young. Boy, talk about old memories...

calliope

I love the bitter-sweet zip of full-flavored marmalade, and it's true that many Americans prefer it mild-mannered.

Here's a vote for bitter marmalade. I find the sweet ones, Smucker's etc., disappointing. I don't bother with them.

A long time ago I bought some locally made orange-ginger marmalade, made with fresh ginger root. That was a good combination.

Jim

I reviewed the recipe Conate linked to. I have made a marmalade from almost the same recipe. The only real difference is that it calls for you to collect all the seeds and place them in a bowl with a cup of cold water. Overnight, the pectin will come out of the seeds. Meanwhile, the peel and pith are soaking in the larger amount of water. The next day, you simmer the pith, peel and water for 2 hours (more at my elevation but I assume you are near sea level). While the oranges are simmering, I pour the seeds into a fine meshed strainer and while holding over the cooking jam, stir with the back of a spoon to get as much of the pectin off the seeds as possible. This can take as much as 20 minutes but the job can be broken up into 5 minute increments. You will know the seeds are done when they lose their slipperyness.

This makes a beautiful marmalade with a decent set. You don't really need to BWB it - just make sure it goes into hot jars, with hot lids.

I added 1/2 cup of Ballantine's Scotch to mine right at the end. The woman who gave me the recipe suggests it doesn't even really start tasting good till it ages 2 years *grins*

It's a lot of work but ultimately worth it.

Irene

conate

I also found a recipe for grapefruit marmalade, which should be good and zingy, and they're usually available year-round. You can make them from pink or yellow grapefruits.

And a question here. We have boxes of Clementines at Christmas, too, and I'm wondering if we use their peels, their few seeds, and add OJ with pulp to the recipe if that would work instead of using the entire fruits. My adult kids would complain terribly if I used the whole Clementines they would EAT to make marmalade. They're available so rarely. :-)

Irene

You add Scotch to your marmalade? Wow! That oughta' start the day off right and wake a body up!

I vote for going easy on the scotch. I made the marmalade recipe from ball complete book that has carrots and oranges. It had 1/4 cup of scotch as optional. I added 1 tablespoon and nearly gagged on the smell. The taste has mellowed out some though so I can stand it. I'm not a big fan of bitter. I made June Taylor's grapefruit lemon marm and hubby likes it better than I do. When I made the orange/carrot, I blanched the peel a couple of times before adding to everything else. I think that helped the bitterness. Then I was given carte blanche to get the rest of the kumquats off my neighbors tree. Now that is some marmalade that I can love.

Anney, you can use any part of a type of citrus and mix with other types of citrus and let your taste buds guide you. Sometimes I freeze pips from juicing one type of fruit if I want to extract the pectin later but know that some other fruit i will be using has few or no pips....mixing and matching has worked well for us, and the marmalades have a nice complex flavor.

mellyofthesouth, kumquat marmalade sounds wonderful, I hope you post again and let us know how it goes!

Tsk, tsk...

Here's what happens when Garden Web women get carried away with putting Scotch in the marmalade. They don't know when to stop.

Really, now.

:-)

Melly: I agree the smell of the liquor is strong initially. And frankly, I prefer it without liquor. But it sells better if it has liquor in it. I sell it at Farmer's Markets and my Whiskey Marmalade is very strong - people from the UK in particular like it and I even had a lovely Scottish man tell me it tasted just like the one his Gran used to make. That to me is one of the best parts of sellling at markets - that kind of feedback.

Anney - I have more than one jam/jelly/marmalade with liquor in it. I have a little sign I put on my table with those products that says "boozy breakfasts". It really draws them in.

That's interesting that they sell better with liquor. About the only one like with liquor is cherry amaretto. I really should get a bottle of frangelico and try that with something. I love hazelnut.

The kumquat marmalade was successful venture. I posted a picture in the what have you put up thread. I worked on it over the course of three days. Friday was harvesting and slicing of 4 of the 5 batches. Ran out of steam so had finish prepping the last batch Saturday. Had piano lessons in the morning and had promised elder daughter I would take her shopping so I actually cooked the marmalade on Sunday. It took around three hours total. I staggered them but kept two batches going at a time so that I would have one ready to go into jars when the last batch can out of the water.

I've made clementine and minneola tangelo marmalade many times. I've never made it with seville oranges as I can't get 'em here in the USA. So make it with anything that strikes your fancy!!

Nate

Nate: I think there is some evil NAFTA plot going on. I managed to get some when I live in Canada and they come from California. We should write someone a strongly worded memo.. lol

I do know that some of the larger grocery stores around here will bring in a case or two yearly if they know there is someone who buys them. In my case, I went to a year round produce market and asked them to bring them in for me.

Hope this helps

Irene

P.S. I make a point of tasting the Seville Marmalade weekly and it just gets better and better.

I love having a stash but recently lost my recipe in a recipe delete but let me tell you, I use Marmalade in so many ways. If you want to make a wonderful banana bread, add marmalade instead of some of the sugar. I use it in meat marinates and to ice layer cakes...Be sure and make some.

Here is the original James Keiller recipe: http://www.greatbritishkitchen.co.uk/gbk/recipes/jam.htm
Wash the oranges and lemons and put them whole into a large heavy-based pan. Pour on the water, cover and bring to the boil. Simmer for 1½ - 2 hours, or until the fruit is soft. Remove the fruit with a slotted spoon, allow to cool and cut into chunks. Remove the pips and add them to the liquid in the pan. Boil this rapidly for 10 minutes, then strain.
Put the strained juice, cut fruit and sugar back into the pan. Stir well until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a rapid boil and boil until setting point is reached, about 30 minutes. Remove any scum, allow to cool slightly, stir well to distribute the fruit and pour into sterilised jars, cover, seal and label.
Good luck:-)

In my early days of canning/preserving (thanks to this forum), I made LOTS of marmalade, mainly because oranges are so plentiful here. As luck would have it, I discovered that my family was not very fond of it.

Sooo - those lovely-looking jars sat on the shelf for awhile, until I decided to find ways --

One of the most successful recipes for their use - is in oatmeal bars with marmalade as a base. These are quite popular. Also, mixed with catsup and liquid smoke - make a great barbecue baste for chicken.

One recent batch of limes was used to make a lime jelly using the pectin that I extracted from some home-made pectin that I experimented with last year - and froze. It tasted a lot like lime flavored honey.

I still have quite a few jars of the original marmalade, and appreciate the recipes posted here, but think for now, I will go a bit slow on large batches of marmalade.

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

I made my first batch of marmalade today!!!!!

While it isn't going to be the best in the world since I had to use navel oranges (all that were available), it's still better than the cheap stuff on the grocery shelves.

It was rather tedious trying to get the (uncooked) peels cut into the small strips I wanted. Finally, I put the peels into my food processor with the attachment that chews up carrots for carrot salad. It was still a difficult part of the process because they just didn't come out right. So the result was very large and very small pieces of the peeling in the marmalade.

However, that's all right for the first time. When we've finished eating this batch, I think I'll just put the oranges in my food processor and chop them up coarsely after squeezing the pulp and juice into the pot. Then the seeds can go into a muslin bag and be cooked with the lot!

Since I have so much of it and I don't put it into jam-jars for safe-keeping, I've decided to freeze it in pint containers.

Ruthie,

Thanks for the idea.

One of my favorite cakes of all time is a Pig-Pickin' cake, which uses mandarin oranges in the cake itself and crushed pineapple in the frosting with the juice carefully poured on the cake layers with holes punched in them. I think I'll spread the marmalade on top of the cake and maybe even spread the pineapple icing on top of that.