Firestarter Marmalade and Giveaway Winner

Well who'd have thunk it, after potting it up still runny last night, the next morning it had set beautifully.  The marmalade that nearly burnt my house down (see yesterdays post) is dark and bitter just as I like it so it was worth slaving over a hot stove for, but maybe not worth losing my house over!  I found the recipe in a free magazine that came with my veg box, it is the first time I have made marmalade so I'm really pleased it turned out so well.  It seems different from other recipes as you cook the whole oranges before shredding them which I guess may make it easier for cutting.  Anyway here's the recipe, I have named it Firestarter Marmalade, it is from Pam Corbin from River Cottage.

Makes approx 6 x 450 jars

1 kg Seville oranges or a mix of Seville and sweet oranges. (2/3 Sevilles and 1/3 sweet orange) I just used seville as I like it slightly bitter.
100 ml lemon juice
150 - 200 g sharp cooking apples, peeled and roughly grated.
2 kg demerara sugar - for a lighter marmalade use a mix of demerara and granulated sugar, for a darker, richer marmalade replace 100g with muscovado sugar.


Scrub oranges and place in large heavy based pan with 2 litres of water.  Place a plate on top of them to keep them immersed.  Cover, bring to the boil, then simmer for approx 2 hours until the orange skins are tender and you can pierce the skins easily with a fork.  Keep an eye on it so it doesn't boil over!  Set aside to cool.

Place a nylon sieve over a bowl.  Break the softened oranges in half and scoop out the pips and pith and put in the sieve.  Using the back of a spoon rub to extract the juice from the pips and pith.  Add this to the cooking water - you should have approx. 1.8 litres.  Make up with water if less.

Cut the peel and flesh into thin, medium or chunky shreds and return to the measured cooling liquid with the fruity sieved juice.

Add the lemon juice and the apple and bring gently to the boil.  Add the sugar (no need to warm) and stir until completely dissolved.

Bring to a rolling boil and boil rapidly (roughly 15 minutes) until setting point is reached.

Remove from heat, allow to rest for 5 minutes before potting up and sealing in sterile jam jars.

Now for the giveaway winner, I did it the old fashioned way and wrote all your names down on a piece of paper, popped them in a bag and pulled out ............Shimpton and Perfect :)  Congratulations Jean.  I will contact you by email so you can send me your address.

Chickpea xx

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