marmalade/jam

[ilan]

marmalade/jam know its not strictly bushcraft but tried making some marmalade but even using a bottle of certo pectin, the stuff will not set . What is the secret ingredient i am missing as even those cheap ones that have virtually no fruit in set ilan .

 

[fred gordon]

Just spoken to the expert, my wife, about this. Firstly it should not be necessary to add pectin to marmalade as there should be plenty in the oranges. You probably haven't boiled the mixture long enough. Boil it slowly on a low heat. Every now and then take a teaspoolful out and put it in a saucer with a small amount of water in it. When the mixture is done it will wrinkle in the water when you push it slowly with your finger. Hope this does the trick.

 

[black_kissa]

I'm assuming you cut the peel in strips (or diamonds and cooked those along.
To get more pectin from your oranges, tie the seeds, and the white from the peel and other leftover bits in a clean piece of cloth, and let this cook along. Eventually squeeze it out. Especially the seeds contain pectin.

How long you might need to heat it depends also on the amount of sugar.

Live and Love,
Anneke

 

[locum76]

keep cooking the marmalade until it has reached the point where it 'sets'. you can test this by putting a small amount onto a saucer and putting it in the fridge for five minutes. if it is ready the surface of the dollop on the saucer should crease up when you run your finger trough it.

 

[ilan]

yes think i boiled the stuff for about 4 hours then gave up . best tasting marmalede ever, trouble is it runs off the toast lol

 

[fred gordon]

yes think i boiled the stuff for about 4 hours then gave up . best tasting marmalede ever, trouble is it runs off the toast lol

What you need now is to try out a good recipe for bread!

 

[Toddy]

yes think i boiled the stuff for about 4 hours then gave up . best tasting marmalede ever, trouble is it runs off the toast lol

Okay, there's a cheat, but it really makes a sort of marmalade lemon curd. This means you can only keep it in the fridge and must use it up within about a week or so, but it's rather good and makes a great fruit loaf too

Take one or two jars of runny marmalade, one heaped teasoonful of butter per jar and one egg yolk per jar.
Egg yolks have a skin on them, this needs to be removed.
Crack the egg into a bowl or cup without breaking the yolk, lift the yolk out and rinse the sac under the tap, you don't want scrambled egg in your fruit Remove the yolk skin, you can do this by hand by pinching the yolk and pouring the yellow out, or straining it through a small sieve / tea strainer.

Put the marmalde into a pot on a medium heat, add the butter and the yolk and stir until the whole lot melts gently together. Bring it just up to a gentle simmer and keep it there for a couple of minutes, then re-pour the mix into the (washed out in very hot water and dried) jam jars, cover and seal.
The aim is orange and creamy with marmalade strands in, not lumpy curdy stuff.

p.s. if you're vegan heat the marmalade up and add some quik-jel, that'll do it too

atb,
Toddy

 

[Eric_Methven]

When I make marmalade I usually put one third of the weight of bramley cooking apples in with it. The pectin in both the seville oranges and the apples makes it go off lovely and firm. Of course getting it to the correct temperature is critical. Take it off too early and it'll never set. Best bet is to get a confectioner's thermometer from a cook shop. That'll let you make toffee, fudge and all sorts of other bioled sweets as well.

For the marmalade I use four pounds of seville oranges, two pounds of apples and six pounds of granulated sugar.

Eric

 

[gregorach]

I suppose it's possible you just didn't get it hot enough - you need to get it to a fairly hard boil. Last time I made jam it only took about 5 minutes once it reached a proper boil.

 

[Ketchup]

Like Eric wrote, apples will help, especially the skins and cores. You can also ad quinces. The Portugese for quince is 'marmelo', hence the name marmelade.