Homemade Orange Marmalade in 10 Steps

Instructions

1. Sterilise your jars either by putting them in boiling water or in your dishwasher. It’s good to keep the jars in the dishwasher until you have finished making the jam to keep them sterilised. The dishwasher must be on a 65 degree or higher programme. If you are using boiling water you might want to sterilise them a little nearer the end of the cooking procedure. You can also sterilise the jars in the oven by placing them in a cold oven bringing the temperature up to 130 degrees for around 20 mins.

2. Halve the oranges and lemons and then squeeze them into a container. Leave the juice in the fridge until needed. Scrape out all the pith and seeds with a spoon. Don’t throw away the pith or pips, instead put them in the centre of the muslin cloth and tie it up with a piece of string. This will cook in the pan with the peel to get most of the flavour out of the fruit.

3. Put the citrus shells and the muslin bag in the pan and add the water. Bring to boil. Half cover the pan with a lid and simmer for 1 hour or until the peel is soft. Don’t overcook them.

4. Tip the ingredients into a large colander over a bowl to collect the liquid. Press the fruit gently to get any excess juice. With a spoon scoop out any leftover fruit from the shells and add it to the bowl.

5. Make sure your shells are free of any pith or leftover mush and then transfer them to a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, slice the peel into thin evenly sliced strips. These strips are the pieces of fruit you find in the marmalade so cut them to the size you prefer. We used all the orange and lemon peel but you can add as much as you like.

6. Now add the liquid in the bowl to the cooking pan, the juice left in the fridge also gets added to the pan along with the peel strips.

7. Add the sugar and heat gently, stirring until all the sugar has dissolved.

8. Once the sugar has dissolved turn the heat to high and boil. Stir every now and again to stop it catching on the bottom of the pan.

Boil until a set is achieved. This can take anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes depending on the oranges, grapefruit and lemons as some citrus fruit will be higher in acid and pectin than others. It’s easy to over boil so start testing early. Over boiling will affect both the set and the flavour.

Start testing by putting the spoon in the mixture, if it leaves a film on the spoon it’s ready. Another way of testing to make sure its set is by putting a few plates in the freezer (for various tests). When you think it's set, take a plate from the freezer and place a spoonful of marmalade on the plate and push your finger through it. If it wrinkles and stays apart, it’s ready.

9. Turn off the heat and skim off any scum, while leaving it to cool for 10 to 15 minutes.

10. When the surface forms a skin and the peel stops rising to the top stir to redistribute the peel and spoon the marmalade into warm sterilised jars.