marmalade oranges

[The Mouse]

Hi.
I'm wanting to make some Seville orange marmalade.
The last - and only - time I did this was over thirty years ago. Back then, the markets at this time of year were piled high with the things, but I've just discovered that times have changed, and when a friend asked about them this morning at the market, it seems that the stallholder had never even heard of them, and tried to fob her off with run-of-the-mill Spanish oranges!!!

I've just looked online to see if Tesco sell them, but all they have is what they call "Marmalade Oranges". It wasn't possible to read the small writing on the picture to see if Seville was mentioned, and to be honest, I wouldn't recognise a Seville orange in a picture.

It looks like Waitrose are selling Seville oranges, but I would like to have a back-up at Tesco's in case my local Waitrose doesn't have them, so I was wondering if anyone here has seen/used the Tesco ones and knows if they are Seville oranges?

[Primrose]

They are certainly on sale now but haven"t been into Tesco so don,t know about them but Sevilles are normally also known as Marmalade oranges so they probably are Sevilles. . They were on sale in our local Waitrose from last weekend in small boxes and we also bought some in our local street market. You can generally recognise them because they are much smaller than ordinary oranges and the skin is normally much rougher. If you are planning on making some marmalade and like chunky marmalade, start saving the skins of all your ordinary oranges, lemons or grapefruit. now and keep them in sealed polythene bag or container in the fridge until you're ready to make the marmalade. These skins can then be chopped up with your Seville oranges to make an extra chunky marmalade with more peel (for those in our house to like to "go fishing" for it )
We've made about 70 jars of in the last week it, but most of it is for a local fund raising effort. We're still eating our own stocks from 2012 !

[The Mouse]

Thanks for the tip, Primrose.

Actually, I've just been to our nearest Waitrose and managed to get some - though theirs were not pre-packed, and I have a feeling that some of the nearby satsumas or clementines might have got mixed in with them!

Fingers crossed now, as I am about to begin.

[John]

I think in recent years they have become much more difficult to get, certainly round here but we do live out in the sticks.
I don't know if the growers have good and bad seasons for if there is not much money in the crop anymore. Last year we came by some that had been grown in South Africa.
Another seasonal orange treat that it difficult to find now is what was always known as a Blood orange - sweet juicy and red. In these PC days they seem to be called a Ruby orange but you rarely see them - I think late summer is their time.

John

[Primrose]

Yes, that's true. You don't see blood oranges around very much any more. But we did buy some very nice red fleshed grapefruit from our market stall during the week. and thought the colour of the juice might slightly influence the final colouring of the Mixed Citrus Fruit Marmalade we made (Orange/Lemon/Grapefruit) but strangely it didn't.

By the way. I know there are some medications that can't be taken with grapefruit but not sure what these are. Does anybody know?

[alan refail]

Statins, Primrose.

[Primrose]

Thanks Alan. I was sure that they were in some way connected with heart medication but didn't want my OH eating the wrong stuff if he's not supposed to.

[Monika]

Last week our Waitrose offered Seville oranges packed in a sort of carton with 1kg and also loose. The 1kg box is useful because you can then just buy 2kg of sugar and a lemon to go with them, all cut and dried. They are also sold at Booths supermarkets.

I made the marmalade on Wednesday and it tastes lovely though the peel is a little too firm for my liking in spite of letting the peel cook for exactly an hour. I should have tried them before adding the sugar.

[jessleco]

hello, is it true that you can decrease the amount of white sugar, adding grape juice or apple juice?

[Primrose]

I'm not sure about that. Obviously we're all trying to reduce our sugar Intake these days but you do need sugar to help make it set. You could do a small test batch first, reducing the amount of water by the substituted amount of fruit juice you use and just reduce the sugar a little bit. We make about 6 lbs of marmalade at a time and reduce the sugar by 3 or 4 ounces as we don't like ours too sweet. Over six jars that's not a huge reduction but our mixture always still sets and it does reduce the calories a little..
Your question has intrigued me now. I may Google "how little sugar can you use in marmalade and still get a decent set?" although you still need all the pectin from the fruit, pips, etc.

[peter]

Commercial ones now tend to go mouldy unless kept in the fridge.

Law of consequences, eat healthy, so bugs and moulds do, you dont.

[John]

Reducing the amount of sugar could be tricky. You need to get the right balance of pectin (from the fruit), sugar and acidity (usually from lemon or the fruit itself) in order to get a good set.
Rather than apple juice I would try apple pulp but I think you will need to experiment by making small batches first.
I guess you might end up with something resembling orange jam perhaps rather than marmalade. Could be an improvement!

John

[alan refail]

My marmalade maker advises: "After all the chopping of the peel I wouldn't risk altering the recipe!"

In any case, there is plenty of sugar in even freshly made apple juice. I should have thought that, unless you were to eat marmalade by the bowlful, any slight reduction would make no overall difference to your sugar intake.

[Primrose]

The only other hint I'd suggest if you like really fruity marmalade with lots of peel in it is to start saving the rind of your oranges or lemons for a week or so before you make the marmalade and store in clingfilm in fridge or freezer until you make the marmalade. Then chop it up and add to the mixture. In our household we have the phrase "Going fishing?" for anybody who pinches more than their fair share of peel with their marmalade portion, so extra peel reduces the competition! If you like a mixed Citrus marmalade though (with lemons, grapefruit or limes added), I'd recommend using just lime juice and not the peel. Lime peel has a tendency to go rock hard when boiled, to the extent of being a tooth breaker !

[robo]

We buy a lot of oranges when we are in spain, we are lucky to have orange groves about 8 miles from us where they sell them at the side of the road, usually around 9 euros for 10 kilos we squeeze them for breakfast , there is nothing like fresh orange duce first thing in the morning unfortunately they seem to dry out a lot when exported as when I press them over here I need twice as many for the same size drink