Really Quick Orange Marmalade Recipe | CDKitchen.com (2024)

FAQs

What is the ratio of sugar to fruit when making marmalade? ›

What's the ratio of sugar to fruit in marmalade? Because of the tartness of a Seville orange, the ratio of sugar to fruit in marmalade is 2:1. This recipe calls for 2kg of sugar and 1kg of oranges but you can scale it down or up using that ratio.

Reducing the sugar in the recipe means a slacker, not set consistency and the marmalade could have a shorter shelf life.

Caster sugar is the one to avoid. The crystals are too fine, which is great for baking but they will dissolve too quickly when making marmalade. Granulated sugar is a good choice. The large crystals will dissolve quickly and cleanly, resulting in a clear, amber liquid that best shows off your perfectly floating peel.

Tim Nind's Seville Orange and Ginger Marmalade, Dalemain Award Winner 2023. Selected from a wide variety of entries from all over the world, Tim Nind's Seville Orange and Ginger Marmalade has been crowned the winner of the 2023 Dalemain Marmalade Homemade Double Gold Award.

To prevent scum forming on the top of your jam, add a knob of butter to your fruit at the same time as you add the sugar, we recommend 20 grams per 1 kilogram of fruit. Note: Scum is nothing sinister, it is only air bubbles that are created during the cooking process, they will not ruin your jam/marmalade if they form.

Cook it again.

Cooking jam without pectin requires practice and patience. A runny batch happens even to the best home jammers. If, after waiting, you find the jam is still too loose for your liking, empty the jars back into a wide pot and cook again. Wash and sterilize the jars and try again.

If the aftertaste is too bitter and you can't remove the bitterness from the jam, prick the oranges and boil them for about 40 minutes, drain and cover with cold water. Soak them for 12-15 hours and change the water from time to time.

After about 5 mins the marmalade will start to rise up the pan (it may drop back and then rise again) and larger bubbles will cover the surface. After 8-10 mins boiling, test for setting point. Times will vary according to the size of the pan – in a large pan this takes 7-8 mins, in other pans it may take 12-15 mins.

Don't overcook your marmalade

Lady Claire Macdonald, food writer: While you're testing your marmalade to see if it's set, take it off the boil. Otherwise you risk boiling away the water content, and ending up with a dark, over-thick marmalade that's dry and rubbery.

Put it back in the freezer for 1 minute, then take it out and push the dollop with your finger: if the dollop wrinkles nicely, your marmalade is probably done, if it's still too fluid to wrinkle, keep cooking.

How do you improve marmalade? ›

If you use oranges with the peel, and you want to eliminate the bitterness, prick them with a fork and soak them for three days in a pot full of water, which you will change every day. In this way the oranges will lose the bitter part that many do not like.

Adding acid in the form of fresh lemon or lime juice is important for two reasons: First, it makes for a more well-balanced jam, returning some of the acidity lost with the addition of sugar. Second, pectin needs acid to properly activate, or firm up.

4 tips to make your marmalade great

But first, you gotta pick the right fruit. Historically, and even today, the best fruit for the job is a Seville orange, a sour-bitter variety that's used as a souring agent in many Caribbean and Latin American cuisines in lieu of lemons or limes.