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Orange and Lemon Marmalade
Take equal parts lemon and Seville and sweet oranges, proceeding as for Florida Recipe No. 2 with the exception that the water will not have to be replaced after bringing to a boil and pouring off the first time.
This is a variation note rather than a standalone recipe: it assumes you have the book's Florida marmalade method in front of you, and changes only the fruit and the water treatment. A few things need spelling out before it will work in a modern kitchen.
- It depends on another recipeNothing here tells you sugar quantities, cooking time or jar handling. Read the referenced Florida method first; on its own this paragraph is a modification, not a full set of instructions.
- Equal parts means by weightEqual parts most likely means by weight -- the recipe does not say. Weigh the three fruits so you get equal weights of lemon, Seville orange and sweet orange, since a lemon and a Seville can differ considerably in size. Some period recipes do count citrus by the piece rather than the pound, so this is an interpretation, not a certainty.
- Seville orangesThese are the bitter, thick-skinned marmalade oranges, and they are seasonal: roughly January and February in most markets, sold as Seville or bitter oranges. They are not a straight substitute for navel or Valencia fruit, which lack the bitterness and generally give a weaker set.
- Why the water is poured offBoiling the sliced peel and pouring off the first water draws out some of the harshest bitterness. The Florida method evidently calls for the water to be replaced and the process repeated; here, because the lemon is already sharp, the fruit is boiled and drained once and no fresh water is added back. The recipe gives no reason for the change.
- Keep the pips and pithThe seeds and white membrane hold most of the pectin. Tie them in a square of muslin, cook them with the fruit, and squeeze the bag out before the sugar goes in; otherwise a marmalade of this kind can refuse to set.
- Judging the setSugar syrup reaches setting point at 220-222F (104-105C) at sea level. A thermometer is more reliable than the old wrinkle-on-a-cold-saucer test, though the saucer works as a second opinion.
- JarsThe book was written when preserves were often sealed under paper or a layer of wax. Use clean hot canning jars with two-piece lids and process in a boiling water bath for the time your current canning guide gives for marmalade; high sugar and citrus acidity make this an easy preserve to keep safely.
- YieldNo yield is stated. As a rule of thumb, 3 lb of prepared citrus with sugar to match returns roughly 6 to 7 half-pint jars.
Marmalade in English originally meant a quince paste, from the Portuguese marmelo, quince, and only migrated to citrus over the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, by which time the Seville orange had become the standard fruit. The bitter orange was valued precisely because it was too sour to eat out of hand: its peel, pith and seeds carry enough pectin and enough acid to set a preserve without help. Blending all three fruits, with the lemon supplying acid and the Seville supplying bitterness, is what gives the recipe its balance.