Jono & Jules do food & wine

There is a batch of this made in our kitchen every year and this year there were two batches (we bought too many oranges). There are lots of fancy marmalade recipes but we find the classic version the best. This also requires a large preserving pan. If you think your pan may be too small then the recipe can easily be halved.

Jono’s Seville Orange Marmalade

• 1.3kg Seville orange marmalade
• 2 lemons, juice only
• 2.6kg preserving or granulated sugar

Put the whole oranges and lemon juice in a large preserving pan and cover with 2 litres of water (if the water doesn’t cover the fruit you need to try a smaller pan). Use a heat-proof plate to keep the oranges submerged as they tend to bob to the surface; we use a second, smaller pot lid. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer very gently for about 2 hours or until the peel can be pierced easily with a fork.

We find we have to weight down the saucepan lid with heat-proof items to keep the lid pressed down and the oranges submerged; a small mortar and an iron teapot usually get drafted for this role.

Warm the sugar in a very low oven. Pour the cooking water from the oranges into a jug and tip the oranges into a bowl. Return the cooking liquid to the pan. When the oranges are cool enough to handle, cut them in half and scoop out all the pips and pith and add to the orange liquid in the pan. Bring this to the boil and continue to boil for 6 minutes, then strain the liquid through a sieve into a bowl and press the pulp through with a wooden spoon.

Pour this liquid into a large preserving pan. Cut the peel into fine shreds and add to the liquid in the preserving pan with the warmed sugar. Gently stir over a low heat for about 10 minutes until the sugar has completely dissolved. This is very important as undissolved grains effects the outcome. Bring to the boil and bubble rapidly for 15-25 minutes or until setting point is reached. A jam thermometer is useful here, but you can also test the set by checking if the marmelade wrinkles when put onto a cold plate

Remove the pan from the heat and skim any scum from the surface. The remaining excess scum can be dissolved by dropping a small knob of butter on to the surface and stirring gently. Leave the marmalade to stand in the pan for 20 minutes, then pot into sterilised jars.

(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)