On Saturday we were in A.J. Pugh’s, our excellent Bishop’s Castle butchers. It was their first day of opening since Christmas, and so I was surprised to find the Seville oranges had already arrived. Sixteen crates of them, I think we were told. To myself I marvelled at the crowds of marmalade makers that this prodigious quantity implied. Were there really so many in our small rural town? Clearly there must be. Andrew Pugh knows his stuff. He’s been serving the Castle since 1980.
This thought then induced an impulse purchase. Must get ahead of the marmalade makers’ stampede.
And so on Sunday afternoon, a day of gloom and wet snow (and after a quick consultation with Delia Smith HERE) I extracted pips and pithy innards, squeezed juice, and simmered the shredded peel till it filled the house with a heady orange fragrance. That alone lifted the spirits. And then, after a couple of hours, there was the pleasure of domestic produce: eight oranges, roughly a kilo, yielded eight assorted jars and a part jar, which should keep us going for at least a year, as well as providing a gift or two; this so long as Paddington Bear impulses don’t take over.
*
An impulse that leads to productivity and geometry – now that’s the kind of impulse I like!
But possibly leading to too much toast-eating…
better than too much cake or chocolate eating!
Phew! That’s a relief then. More toast it is.
Seville oranges were available in Leicester market today, with a sign saying “Not Sweet!”
Ah, another example of the cultural memory gap, methinks. I remember Leicester market being a rather fabulous place.
Leicester market was indeed fabulous, until they decided to renovate it, then ran out of money, then decided to make the cleared space into a public arena to celebrate Leicester sporting teams. The marketeers objected (so did I) to being moved away to a different area. At present they are crammed into a space about a third of the previous size until a decision is made.
That’s a big shame. The killing of markets seems to be a civic objective in many places. I remember it in its open air version with vast fruit and veg counters.
Nice post 🌅🌅
Thank you.
Welcome dear freind🌅🌅
This makes me want some. Should I send my address? Ha
Marmalade by post. Now that’s a notion, Flower 🙂
Given your previous baking posts, the marmelade goes perfectly on top.
Thank you, Stephen. You’ve reminded me I need to bake a loaf.
Makes me realize how fortunate we are to have a bitter orange tree in the garden.
Not a genuine Sevilla Orange but bitter enough to make some rather nice marmalade.
A very Happy New Year to you and Mister G.
😊
And all best wishes to you and yours, too, Ark. It must be wonderful to have your own tree. They are so beautiful – the leaves, the blossom AND the fruit.
It has been me that has been on marmalade duty most years but Ems found a slightly different recipe /method on YouTube and took over this season. Because of the outstanding result I promoted her!
😂
Good for Ems. There seem to be quite a lot of different methods which I hadn’t realised until scanning YouTube, including cooking the fruit in a small amount of water until there’s hardly any liquid left, and then adding the sugar. Wasn’t too sure about that approach.
I think her method is more traditional.
I’m a big fan of Valencia Oranges. A hybrid originally cultivated in Southern California. Sweet, sweet, sweet and difficult to find in New Mexico.
Now they sound very delicious, but too sweet for marmalade perhaps. But then why cook them!
Nothing quite beats homemade produce.
I could so use you as a neighbour, Tish! My marmalade stores are extinct.
So sorry to hear that, Jo.
Looks like you had a fruitful day Tish. We have a mandarin orange tree in our backyard. I keep giving fruit away. We do live in Citrus Heights!
A mandarin tree in the garden sounds pretty heavenly.
😍
Honestly Tish, I’m stuck. Here I am in Spain for a moth and Seville Oranges are not to be found (it was the same in our years in France) by the time we get home, the season will be over. What to do, eh? By the way, the recipe I use these days cooks the oranges first, rendering them much easier to pip and chop. And every bit as good.
Well, that’s a blow. All shipped out it seems. I’d heard about cooking them first for ease of de-pithing, but never got beyond Delia. How long do you cook them? In water, presume?
This isn’t actually the recipe I use, which is in one of my Jane Grigson books. But it looks much the same. And I don’t agree the method produces a more bitter result: https://www.smellingsaltsjournal.com/seville-orange-marmalade-whole-fruit-method/. I’m goig to get a neighbour to buy me some Sevilles….
Many thanks for this. And good notion to get your neighbour shopping.
👍
Oh..and the supermarket marmalade just does not compair.
Oh..and the supermarket marmalade just does not compair.
It truly doesn’t, Beverly.
So beautiful photographs and also seems so delicious too. fascinated me. Thank you, Love, nia
Thanks, Nia.
It’s not every day that talking about a hexagonal prism leads to orange marmalade 🙂
Ha! I like your take, I.J. And you noted the hexagon too 🙂
Wonderful ♥️
Good on you, nothing like the smell of marmalade in the making!
It’s caused a lot of toast eating 🙂
I’m sure!
Ahh the I almost smell the fresh smell:) Thanks for sharing.
I can’t get through on the blog, so I thought I’d see if this — whatever it is — works. Let me know if it gets through.
Yes, I can see this, Marilyn.