marmalade

First, ask a friend who owns a tree in fruit, the fruit of which is way too sour to eat and ask if you can have some, pick 4lbs



these are not the traditional seville oranges used for marmalade making, but does it really matter?
Second, cut in half all oranges and squeeze juice out and add to 8 pints of water. Keep pith and pips and pop in muslin bag and tie to side of preserving pan. Also adding, in the same method 2 lemons (from another friends tree!).



Cut all oranges and lemons in quarters and slice finely. Add everything to the pan and simmer gently for 2 hours.



Meanwhile, play some music and get upset and homesick, cry a bit. Turn music off as everything makes you cry and sow some seeds as it's a flower day.



After two hours of not listening to mournful music or sewing yet more flower seeds (how many flowers does anyone really need). Wash your jars and pop in the oven ready for sterilising, you can always waste a bit more time sorting out the (f)utility room, getting rid of stuff that you thought might be useful but hasn't been, throw away some mouldy apples. Hopefully that will have killed a bit more time. Anyway, after two hours add sugar, the recipe called for 8lbs but I only had 7 lbs and didn't fancy a walk to the shop, which is usually shut anyway. So reduced sugar recipe it is...

Pop some saucers in the freezer, ready for testing, get the mountain of sugar to dissolve, and do endless tests with marmalade on frozen saucer, until it is set.

Leave marmalade to rest for 20 minutes and put oven on to sterilise jars. When you have finally had enough of waiting around, make a big sticky mess by getting marmalade into jars, I do have a funnel for this but it never seems to fit into the top of my jars....seal and pop lids on, realise you don't have enough jars, scrabble around in futility room again, wash them, relight the oven and sterilise.Finally put all jars of marmalade in the cupboard with all the other chutneys, relishes and strange jams that nobody ever eats and go out.