Marmalade time

Over the weekend I made a double batch of seville orange marmalade.  This meant two kilos of oranges and four kilos of sugar so the kitchen is still very slightly sticky a few days later.  I don't know whether it is just me, but I find marmalade far harder to get right than jam.  All the books say it takes 10 minutes of boiling before the marmalade has reached setting point and virtually very single time I've made it, it takes more like 45 minutes at least.

I used a River Cottage recipe, which was a whole fruit method.  I started with my lovely fragrant seville oranges...

I then simmer the oranges in water for an hour or so until they are soft.

 

The pips are taken out and the peel is sliced into small slivers

The peel, sugar and water are added with any juice and slowly brought to the boil whilst stirring until the sugar has dissolved.

When it gets to a rolling boil, keep it boiling.  The books all tell me that it should be boiling for 10-15 minutes, but it ALWAYS takes longer than that.

 

After a lot of boiling, finally I have twelve jars of marmalade. 

 

 

In the darkness of midwinter it is lovely to create something bright and warm and glorious.

Colour to cheer and inspire

On a dark wet February Saturday morning it can feel like Spring is a very long way off.  The garden is already sodden with rain and then the snow and sleet start.  None of it is laying, but the weather keeps me in the house yet again.  Luckily there is some sunshine in the form of the seville oranges I am making into marmalade.  Seville oranges and their perfumed bitter flavour are one of those rare completely seasonal items - they are only available in January and February here, so that means a couple of weekends of making marmalade each year.

 

In spite of my impatience finally the marmalade reaches setting point and I wonder why no recipe ever tells you quite how long this will take.  Many of them suggest boiling for 15 minutes which is a complete nonsense!

 

As its so grey and cold outside, I've made sure there are flashes of colour inside Hazel Cottage.  Although spring isn't here yet, there are splashes of spring colour to cheer and inspire.

 

 

 

Whilst waiting for the marmalade to boil up, I watched the birds in the garden frantically flutter around in the snow and sleet and daydreaming about all the flowers I hope to grow in the summer.  I really want to be better at growing from seed and in my plans I dream of a warm golden summers day sitting in the garden surrounded by flowers and bees and  butterflies.  In the meantime  I must get on and make the patchwork cushion I started before Christmas.....

 

 

"Winter, a lingering season, is a time to gather golden moments, embark upon a sentimental journey, and enjoy every idle hour."  - John Boswell

 

 

 

 

 

 

The absence of snow

Last winter was filled with inches of snow, even as far south as Hazel Cottage.  This winter, whilst the rest of the country is covered in at least a dusting of it, we are back to our usual absence of snow.  It seems that because we are on the south coast and seemingly also sheltered from the worst excesses of weather, we are only used to very occasional, fleeting and insignificant snow.

Our garden this winter

Our garden last winter!

Despite the absence of snow here, the weather has been cold and bitter and the birds in the garden seem increasingly ravenous.  In addition to our usual regular visits by blue tits and robins, we have seen more of the blackbird population and some great tits have appeared and even possibly a song thrush at the top of the hazel tree.  Collared doves and  pigeons are often in the garden until they are startled by the crows and magpies.  We are only in the garden to feed the birds at the moment, everything looks slightly desolate and abandoned and only than the tiny green shoots of daffodils indicate that spring will come, eventually.

Whilst we are waiting for spring (or at least more light and warmth) to go back into the garden, we are still busy in the kitchen.  I made my first batch of marmalade recently, using the wonderful bitter seville oranges that are in season for a short time in January and February.  I used a recipe from the River Cottage Preserve book which seemed to work well, although I must learn to be more patient when it comes to jam and let it boil for longer than I think I should and not decant and have to reboil it again later.  Despite my initial impatience we now have seven jars of very thick cut seville marmalade in the store cupboard, hopefully to last us until we have fruit to make jam.