Oxford Marmalade

This famous chunky marmalade is a beautiful red-gold colour and delicious spread on hot buttered toast. Seville oranges are a seasonal fruit that are available in January. The orange's thick, rough skin, the flesh is extremely tart and packed with seeds; it is not an eating orange, but its high acidity offers perfect setting power for preserves. Seville oranges can be frozen, so those pushed for time post-Christmas can pop a bag in the freezer and make use of this very special, often undervalued fruit at a later date.

• Ready In: 2 hrs
• Yields: 6 Jars

Ingredients

• 12  seville oranges
• 1  lemon
• 2  pints water
• 1  kg sugar

Directions

1. Wash and weigh the fruit. Put into a large pan with (1 pint for every 500g of fruit) water. Cover and let boil for 1 hour.
2. Place a colander over a bowl. Transfer the fruit and its liquid to the colander, and let the liquid drain to the bowl below. Reserve the liquid.
3. Chop the fruit into quarters. Remove the pips and set them aside. Chop the fruit into equal sized pieces - thinly or coarsely - depending on how chunky you like your marmalade. Wrap the pips in a muslin bag.
4. Pour the reserved cooking liquid back into the pan and add the sugar. Use 500g sugar for the same weight of fruit. Stir the mixture over a low heat to dissolve the sugar, then boil the syrup for about 5 minutes. Use a metal spoon to remove any scum on the surface. Stir in the fruit and bag of pips.
5. Continue boiling until the setting point is reached (this will be roughly 30-40 minutes). Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Remove the pan from the heat, discard the muslin pip bag and skim the marmalade. Allow it to cool slightly before spooning it into sterilized jars. (To sterilize jars, put in oven at 100 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes).