I’ve been making marmalade for over 15 years now. Once the Christmas and New Year celebrations are over, it’s a fixed date on my calendar to check out the arrival of the Seville Oranges in the shops or online and prepare my jam jars ready for my marmalade making session.
I’ve posted about Grandma Abson’s Marmalade recipes with various citrus fruits and my late mother-in-law, Great Grandma Pat who supplied the family with marmalade well into her 80s, using a pressure cooker.
I’ve tried all
their recipes and others over the years and finally created my own version. I
think I’ve ended up with something easy and reliable to be sure of a winner
every time. Nowadays Seville oranges are sold in string bags weighing a kilo,
so I’ve adapted the measurements of ingredients to fit this weight. This recipe
makes about 6 jars.
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Seville Orange Marmalade
What you need…
1 kg Seville oranges
Juice of 2 lemons
4 pints/approx. 2 litres water
2 kgs granulated sugar
How to make ...
Wash
the oranges and place them in a large pan with the water and the lemon juice.
Boil
and then simmer for between 1½ and 2 hours until they are soft and the peel pierces
easily with a fork.
Remove
them from the pan with a ladle and leave to cool on a tray or plate.
Cut
the oranges in half and scoop out the fruit, pith and pips and return this
mixture to the pan, retaining the peel. Boil for 5-6 minutes.
Strain
this mixture through a sieve or a muslin cloth. You can press it through with a
wooden spoon.
Cut
half of the peel into strips – chunky or thin depending on how you prefer them
in marmalade.
Add
these to the remaining liquid in the pan with the sugar and stir gently until
all the sugar has dissolved. This can take between 6-10 minutes. Be careful not
to boil the mixture at this stage.
Once
the sugar has dissolved, fast boil rapidly for 15 minutes until the setting
point is reached. It can take sometimes up to 25 minutes so keep checking.
How
to check for the setting point - use the plate/wrinkle
test by putting a small amount on a chilled plate and
pushing it with a teaspoon - it should wrinkle.
Leave the marmalade to cool in the pan for around 20-25 minutes and then pot into sterilised jars.
·
To prevent too much froth
in the liquid as it boils, add a knob of butter at the fast-boiling stage.
· To sterilise jars, place them in a dishwasher or wash carefully in hot, soapy water. Rinse and place them on a tray in a preheated oven at around 150C for 15-20 minutes to dry.
Love it or not?
It’s true to say that love it or hate it, marmalade is a firm favourite as part of a traditional British breakfast with a wide variety of textures to suit all tastes. Seville Oranges are only around at this time of year between late December and early February so don’t delay.
Start the year and banish the January Blues
Now I’ve made my marmalade, I’m ready to take on 2026 and bake my favourite recipes to banish those January blues. Wishing everyone a Happy New Year 2026!
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Marmalade Bread and Butter Pudding
This is a shorter version of my January 2026 article In praise of homemade
Marmalade for Yorkshire Bylines.
