Hi all from Athens, where the streets are lined with Seville oranges (called Nerantzia in Greek), and they are free for the taking. Naturally you wouldn't dream of picking them on a main street but there are some quiet ones with hardly any traffic, or stuck inside a vacant lot, or in a courtyard near a church, and I regularly steal them for my marmalade, choosing just one or two from each tree, because they are so decorative. And I follow Zora's method, by far the easiest, and use Tate & Lyle preserving or jam sugar with added pectin, which means half the amount is needed, and it therefore can be as bitter as you'd like or as Nancy would like. Sometimes I add some lemons or pergamot, but I never have to worry about the oranges costing too much or dewaxing them.
As one of my mentors in social work school used to say:"There are many ways to get to Woodland Hills." This was at U.C.L.A., and she was referring to a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley, but the metaphor is applicable everywhere: whatever the destination, there is usually more than one way to get there. Thus with orange marmalade. I scrub the wax off, in the way you describe, but then simmer the whole oranges uncut, until "they are soft enough to poke through the skin with the handle of a wooden spoon," which was supposedly the instruction given by Diana Kennedy to Kevin West, author of _Saving the Season_. When they are cooled, then cut in half, it is easy to scoop out the pulp and seeds, and also to scrape out the pith, which has gelatinized during the first cook. I'm guessing that one version of your marmalade was less bitter than the other, because you managed to eliminate more pith in the less bitter version. I'm convinced that people who enjoy my marmalade so much, do so because it is less bitter than marmalade often is. Eliminating most or all of the pith is the reason. Well, the single malt scotch I add may have something to do with it, too. With the insides and pith scooped out, the soft peel is easily shredded, the juice squeezed from the mass of pulp, and most of the seeds extracted and tied in muslin. The added water comes from the cooking pot in which the oranges had been simmered, which adds quite a bit of the flavor of the orange oil in the peels. I like to use white sugar because I like the sparkling orange color, and when I jar it up, I do a couple of jars with very little shredded peel, because J likes the jelly on its own. I like it thick with the candied peel. Many ways to get to marmalade heaven.
Gorgeous pics, so sunny and summery, particularly the one of the curly little nest of zest (zest-nest?) - I do love a clear jelly marmalade. And thanks for tip about de-waxing citrus fruits. Never thought of it myself.
I agree,. I love this. But on salted lemons, I much prefer to slice them crosswise. Easier in every way, the pieces are easy to extract from the jar, you can judge amounts more easily, and it's altogether a less finicky method.
But however you slice them, a wonderful ingredient
I love this article for many reasons. In fact, I am off to have a blood orange which always reminds me of, The House of Bernarda Alba....you know, Lorca and Oranges, why not! xo
I always make marmalade... even though I'm the only one, around here, who likes it.
All the more for me!
Nancy, I love this post of yours. What's better to write about, and you do it so well.
Hi all from Athens, where the streets are lined with Seville oranges (called Nerantzia in Greek), and they are free for the taking. Naturally you wouldn't dream of picking them on a main street but there are some quiet ones with hardly any traffic, or stuck inside a vacant lot, or in a courtyard near a church, and I regularly steal them for my marmalade, choosing just one or two from each tree, because they are so decorative. And I follow Zora's method, by far the easiest, and use Tate & Lyle preserving or jam sugar with added pectin, which means half the amount is needed, and it therefore can be as bitter as you'd like or as Nancy would like. Sometimes I add some lemons or pergamot, but I never have to worry about the oranges costing too much or dewaxing them.
As one of my mentors in social work school used to say:"There are many ways to get to Woodland Hills." This was at U.C.L.A., and she was referring to a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley, but the metaphor is applicable everywhere: whatever the destination, there is usually more than one way to get there. Thus with orange marmalade. I scrub the wax off, in the way you describe, but then simmer the whole oranges uncut, until "they are soft enough to poke through the skin with the handle of a wooden spoon," which was supposedly the instruction given by Diana Kennedy to Kevin West, author of _Saving the Season_. When they are cooled, then cut in half, it is easy to scoop out the pulp and seeds, and also to scrape out the pith, which has gelatinized during the first cook. I'm guessing that one version of your marmalade was less bitter than the other, because you managed to eliminate more pith in the less bitter version. I'm convinced that people who enjoy my marmalade so much, do so because it is less bitter than marmalade often is. Eliminating most or all of the pith is the reason. Well, the single malt scotch I add may have something to do with it, too. With the insides and pith scooped out, the soft peel is easily shredded, the juice squeezed from the mass of pulp, and most of the seeds extracted and tied in muslin. The added water comes from the cooking pot in which the oranges had been simmered, which adds quite a bit of the flavor of the orange oil in the peels. I like to use white sugar because I like the sparkling orange color, and when I jar it up, I do a couple of jars with very little shredded peel, because J likes the jelly on its own. I like it thick with the candied peel. Many ways to get to marmalade heaven.
Gorgeous pics, so sunny and summery, particularly the one of the curly little nest of zest (zest-nest?) - I do love a clear jelly marmalade. And thanks for tip about de-waxing citrus fruits. Never thought of it myself.
I agree,. I love this. But on salted lemons, I much prefer to slice them crosswise. Easier in every way, the pieces are easy to extract from the jar, you can judge amounts more easily, and it's altogether a less finicky method.
But however you slice them, a wonderful ingredient
I love this article for many reasons. In fact, I am off to have a blood orange which always reminds me of, The House of Bernarda Alba....you know, Lorca and Oranges, why not! xo
I find it easier to slice the lemons crosswise. Easier to get them out of the jar later, too.☀️🧡