Seville Orange Marmalade - The Definitive Guide

 After 6 batches, I think I have this Seville Marmalade business down to a fine art.  I have made nearly 50 glasses of this stuff, and I have to say it beats any commercial Seville marmalade I've ever eaten.  I took the best from David Lebovitz's recipe, and the best from the Canadian Living recipe, and rather than tell you why one is better than another, I just thought I'd show you my Shim Farm take on things.

Here's what I did:

Take 1 kilogram Sevilles (in this case 9 oranges), and slice them along their equator.  Do the same thing to one Navel orange, and one lemon.  (I didn't have any lemons today, so let's just pretend...)

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I found it was easiest to squeeze each half thoroughly, and then use my paring knife to remove any stubborn, deep-seated pips.  You don't want to go digging in with your fingernails.  Your cuticles will not thank you at the end of the day.  Just trust me and use a pointy knife, okay?

 Then I cut each half in half again...

 ...and thinly slice each peel.

If you start with your pot in the kitchen sink, you'll make less of a mess.  But you knew that already, didn't you?

 When all the oranges are sliced, drain the pits over the pot.  You need all that good juice...

 ...and add 8 cups of water to the pot.

Your pits contain the pectin needed to set the marmalade.  You can tell the seeds are sort of slimy and gelatinous.  That's the pectin and we want it!  Wash a muslin cloth, and tie up the pits.

 Be sure to use your best sailor's knot, because if this baby busts open, you're in for a pit hunt.

 
Trim the excess fabric using your trusty kitchen shears...

 ...and place the pits into your pot.

Bring oranges to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer.  The thinner you've sliced the peels, the faster they will cook.

(I don't know where I picked up this long-handled stirrer, but my hands thank me when I cook a big batch of spaghetti sauce, or boil up a big vat of jam or marmalade, because you're well out of the reach of splatters.  I've never seen one like it in stores, and all I know about it is that it's oak and made in Italy.)

 I let my mixture cook about 40 minutes, until it had thickened a bit, and then let it cool for several hours.

Then I removed the pits and s-q-u-e-e-z-e-d all that wonderful pectin into the marmalade.  

Add seven cups granulated sugar to the oranges, and bring everything to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly.  Don't even let the marmalade sit on the burner for a minute without full attention.  If you're called away from the stove, by all means remove it from the heat and attend to whoever is needy/whining/calling.


Stir until your arm falls off.

Kidding, but really, I stirred and stirred and stirred for at least 40 minutes until I reached the gelling point.  My burner isn't quite at maximum heat, but it's close.  At some point, the mixture becomes clearer and there are less little, teeny-tiny bubbles, and at this point you'd test for your gelling point.  Put a small plate into the freezer, put a teaspoon of marmalade on it, and return it to the freezer.  The marmalade should not run, but rather hold it's shape and wrinkle when you touch the edges.  Keep testing until you've got this effect, or you'll end up with runny marmalade.  That would be Not Good.

Towards the last batch, I was able to tell by the way the marmalade acted (it gets harder to stir because it gets thicker and there's more resistance) and the bubbles are bigger and "bubblier".  I know you're impressed with my thorough description (bubbles are bubblier you ask?), but think of lava in the volcano and you're on the right track.  Just trust me on this.  I'm wearing an oven mitt in the above photo for a reason .

 Prepare your 250 mL jars in boiling water...

 ...and put your lids in hot water to soften the sealing compound.


Fill your jars with hot marmalade, leaving a 1/4" head space.

 Fasten your lids and rings until fingertip tight.  That's to say, just tighten them, don't give them a super-torque.

Process for 10 minutes in your water bath.

This recipe made enough for 9 - 250 mL jars.  Yes, there are only 8 in the pot above, and that's what I planned for, but we ended up with a bonus jar.  If you're like me and have canned before, you know that all these canning recipes are mostly best guesses when it comes to the finished quantity.  I always have a jar or two ready to sterilize, because that's the nature of the beast.  I made this same recipe, using the same amounts, and the last batch made 8.  Go figure.  It was a gift from the Seville orange Gods.

That's it folks - that's ALL there is to it!  Simple, easy, and oh-so-good Seville Orange Marmalade.

Pfeiffer's Pfinest Pfancy

 You know, sometimes, you ask a simple question, and you get a simple answer?

Well, last week, when I asked my colleague's husband if Seville oranges had arrived in the stores, I didn't expect to find a 40-pound box of them sitting on my desk the next day.

My parents are avid jam, jelly and marmalade makers.  As a kid, the scent of Seville orange marmalade wafting through the house is one of my favorite memories.  It invokes thoughts of cold winter days, a cracking fire, and glorious, fragrant Seville orange marmalade, of course.  Sevilles are in stores for a short period of time at the end of January and the beginning of February, and if you miss them, you're out of luck until the next year.

A 40-pound box of Sevilles is a daunting task.  I've processed one batch already that gave me 12-250mL jars, that's about 3 quarts.  I've got a second batch resting right now that I will finish off tomorrow, and that should probably give me another 12 jars.  Well, that's about 5 pounds of Sevilles processed, and well...that means there are 35 pounds left to go!  I gave more than half the case to my parents, because there aren't enough canning jars in my life (nor time in this world) for me to process that many.

Seville oranges are bitter, almost inedible.  As you can see, they are full of pits, and therein lies the beauty:  the pits are full of pectin, and this gives the marmalade it's natural jelly without having to add any extra pectin for jelling.  The marmalade these oranges produce is a favorite among orange jam aficionados the world over, for due reason.

Because we were generously given a bumper crop of Sevilles, I thought this would be a great opportunity to try a few different recipes out.  Yesterday, my brother and I made David Lebovitz's recipe (I forgot to add the Scotch!), and right now, I'm trying a recipe I found on the Canadian Living site.  I cook a lot of Canadian Living recipes, so I am hopeful that this one will be a winner, too.

As we were canning the David Lebovitz batch, we kept eating spoonfuls of the hot marmalade - it was that good and that addictive.  And the smell in the house?  It can't be beat!  The smell alone is reason enough to make a batch.

When the second batch is processed, I'll let you know which turned out best, and what I would do different next time around.  By next year, we should have Seville orange marmalade down to a fine art.