Someone asked me about how to find Seville oranges
or some substitute to make real English marmalade. I figured after taking
so much time on the reply, I may as well share it around:
It's only true that the best
orange for marmalade is the Seville or any "sour orange" IF you happen to
like the bitter flavor they impart. If not, you would be better off
with sweet oranges for marmalade. Sour oranges are not sold at all in
the US even though they are common. I grew up with them as rootstock trees in
Florida, both wild and in people's yards. I lived in England and made
several large batches of the real thing for some people who'd bought 100 lbs
of Sevilles. The species is C. aurantium, and they are bitter and sour,
both. My suggestions include: looking for real
British marmalades in fancy or foreign groceries to see if you will like the
stuff, or charging right in with variations on the theme. There are
other bitter type marmaldes made in Britain. Also the acidity is
another aspect that makes Seville marmalade more exciting than anything made
from sweet oranges. I've done plenty of experiments, and all have
turned out quite edible. Here is the basic recipe:
You squeeze the juice into a bowl. Then cut up the peels and simmer
them in water till soft. Commercial brands come with either finely cut
peels (get out the food processor) or thick cut. Real afficionados prefer
thick cut peels. (1/8-1/4" wide, easy to do with a sharp knife on a
cutting board)) I would use a minimum of water for boiling the
peels. After the peels soften, put them in a large pan. Measure
the pulp and peels into the pan, adding some of the water the peels were
boiled in if you desire. Add a little more than an equal volume of
sugar. (It should really be equal weights. There are 7 oz sugar per
cup, 8 oz water) THE PAN SHOULD BE NO MORE THAN HALF FULL TO START WITH, 1/3
TO 1/4 IS SAFER Seeds are generally picked out, tied in a cloth bag and added
to increase the bitterness, I just ignore them so they wind up in my final
product. (seeds are optional, and a moot point with so many American
seedless varieties.) Cook the marmalade till it is at a boil that
cannot be stirred down. It must be stirred throughout the entire
operation, and not cooked on too high a heat, as it is prone to scorching on
the bottom. The stuff is ready when it gets thick enough that you get a sort
of volcanic plopping. It's a little dangerous, as the temperature at this
concentration of sugar will really hurt if it lands on you. Surejell
will get you done much quicker, but is unecessary unless you aren't an
adventurous cook. The other shortcut is to get the stuff boiling and
slowly add sugar until it loses that watery look and turns into the volcanic
mud texture. Don't be so timid that you wait till it goes on to the
candy stage. (The change is pretty easy to spot, watery bubbling to
volcanic plopping, but from there to the candy stage it gets more filled with
air bubbles and a caramel smell.) Ladle into the hot sterilized jars,
etc. So here goes with recipes:
Orange and
lemon: This gives orange flavor and acid, with no bitterness.
This will appeal to most Americans. Kumquats or
calamondins: Probably not available in Illinois, but ideal marmalade
materials due to high peel content and acidity. Not
bitter. Lime marmalade: Quite expensive to buy the
imported stuff, but the ingredients are in every grocery. Definitely
bitter. Might want to make it part orange or lemon because of
this. Start with a small batch, taste after mixing up the fruit and
sugar, but remember it will become more bitter after cooking, as the
bitterness in the peels spreads throughout. (My husband is Irish, and
says that lime is the other standard marmalade. It is
his favorite.) Grapefruit marmalade: Ditto above
instructions. If you can find the stuff, check ingredient list to see
whether they have other citrus in it too. I would try maybe 1
grapefruit to 3-4 oranges. Maybe throw in a lemon too. Certainly
grapefruit wine recipes tend to go easy on the grapefruit, as the peels are
strongly bitter. Don't be afraid to experiment, as all
results will be delightful to some portion of the population. An
English NAFEXer grew a trifoliate/grapefruit cross. It was not edible,
so he made marmalade. His wife spat it out. He could not enjoy
it. So they sent it to a garden club, and several people commented it
was just the way marmalade ought to taste, and where could they get
more? Have fun! Donna
Hudson
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