Seville 2017

During the first week in April...it may be as warm here in Wells as it is in Seville...I have to keep reminding myself that it is April and not May or June!

We have finished the last of the 2016 Vintage of Seville Marmalade, which was made from 2015 oranges...so it was time to make a new batch this weekend.  The Seville Oranges have been in the freezer for just a few weeks, and with some lovely fresh unwaxed lemons, I got 1 Kg fruit out to defrost on Friday.  Normally I would cook the fruit whole and cut after cooking, but this time, having felt the defrosted fruit, found that they were quite soft.  I chopped the peel finely, and added it to the 1 litre water in the pressure cooker, wrapped the segments and seeds in a muslin cloth and put that in the water too.  The whole lot was left to macerate till this morning.

I cooked up the fruit for 12 minutes in the New Pressure Cooker...12lbs pressure, they squeezed the bag of pulp and pips, and then added the sugar, and followed the usual boiling up, testing of temperature and also saucer test.  Can you see my new toy?  Well toy it is not...this is my new SuperFast Thermapen...what a boom, it takes just a few seconds to give an accurate read out.  It is MADE IN ENGLAND!  My old probe has lasted over twenty years...but you  had to hold it in the jam for ages as it took so long to get a reading!  It was my breadmaking friend Nigel who first showed this instrument to me via Facebook, for testing that bread was done...and I was hooked!

This year I have decided to make a preserve with less sugar...to 1 Kg fruit, I added the juice of two lemons, and 1.5Kg sugar, rather than 2Kg.

Most of the jars finished off as a classic Seville Marmalade...but I could not resist a little whiskey in two smaller jars!  Will Mr M who definitely does not like whiskey take to the Whiskey Marmalade?

Classic and Whiskey Seville Marmalade