Seville Orange Marmalade

I love to buy interesting jams and marmalades, but I love even more to make my own. It’s been many years since I’ve made a citrus one, so seeing Seville oranges at Farm Boy got me excited.

Most of the recipes from my canning books weren’t all that inspiring. I ended up using this recipe by David Lebovitz from his website. I used six Seville oranges plus one Moro blood orange. Removing the pips was quite a chore, but I ended up with a good half cup of seeds. These went into a cheesecloth sack, and simmered with the laboriously hand-cut peels. As suggested, I left the mixture sitting at room temperature for most of the day.

In the evening, I started cooking the jam. It took a long time to boil off enough water for the temperature to start increasing. I used slightly less than the recommended amount of sugar. Despite boiling for almost 45 minutes, I never got above 214℉ . The dish in the freezer test eventually confirmed that I had made a marmalade that started to gel.

At this point, I was too tired to actually heat process the jars. I just ladled the marmalade into clean jars, and immersed pieces of dried-out vanilla beans. The pods will soften over time, and will need a little smushing and scraping to get the tiny seeds out.

I love marmalade and this was probably the best one I’ve ever made. The colour is a deep orange, the shreds of peel are just the right thickness and length, and the Irish whiskey and vanilla adds some subtlety. I froze half of the jars, and put the rest in the fridge, and will enjoy spreading it on toast all winter.