While down in the South of France, we couldn't help but notice all the orange and lemon trees laden down with heavy fruit.
This is the time of year when I like to make marmelade. We can't buy bitter oranges here so I make Three Fruit Marmelade using oranges, lemons and grapefruits. If you would like to have a go, the recipe I use is pretty easy.
To make about 12 pots of jam I use 3 lemons; 3 oranges and 3 grapefruit. I prefer to use organic because all the peel goes into the jam and I'm not wild about eating pesticides.
Cut the fruit into thin slices or even cubes. What you do at this step really depends on whether you like large chunks of fruit in the marmelade, or tiny slithers of peel. Any pips ( or seeds) should be reserved and tied into a loose muslin bag that goes into the pan with the fruit - you need the pectin they produce to make the marmelade set.
Put all the chopped fruit into a huge preserving saucepan and cover with three times the volume of water. Leave to stand for a couple of hours, even overnight, then bring to the boil and simmer for 2 hours uncovered. Remove the bag of pips.
Weigh the contents of the saucepan after cooking and add the equivalent weight of sugar or preserving sugar with some extra pectin (I know, that is a LOAD of sugar, but there's no way around it). Bring back to the boil and cook vigourously for about 40 minutes until it starts to set.
The best way to check for setting point is to have a couple of saucers in your fridge. Pour a little marmelade onto the saucer, let it cool for a couple of minutes then push gently with your finger, if the surface crinkles then you can stop cooking the marmelade.
I leave the marmelade to cool a little in the pan before ladling into pots, covering, labelling and putting away into my jam cupboard to enjoy throughout the year. I love having a plentiful reserve of jams and preserves. We eat a lot ourselves, and I find that a home made pot of jam or marmelade is useful for last minute hostess gifts. French country style.
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