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Orange Marmalade (III)
Mrs. Wm. Bracket.
Take seven oranges and five lemons; boil in water two or three hours; throw away the water, and open the oranges and lemons, taking out the seeds and preserving all the pulp and juice possible; cut the rinds in small strips or chop them, but cutting in strips is better; weigh it all when this is done; then put three pounds of sugar to two of the pulp, and boil slowly till clear.
A whole-fruit marmalade of the simplest kind: boil the fruit soft, discard the cooking water, then weigh pulp and peel against sugar. The only real decisions are how long to boil and how to judge the set.
- Boiling the fruitTwo or three hours is longer than needed on a modern burner with a lid. Simmer until a skewer slides through the peel with no resistance, usually 45 to 90 minutes depending on thickness, and keep the fruit submerged with a plate or a round of parchment.
- Throwing away the waterDiscarding the cooking water carries off much of the bitterness from the outer peel. It will also carry off some dissolved pectin, so the marmalade is likely to set less firmly than one made by the modern method of cooking the fruit and using its own liquid. Expect a soft, spoonable set rather than a stiff one.
- The seedsThe seeds and the white pith hold most of the pectin. Rather than discarding them as written, tie them in a scrap of muslin and simmer the bag with the sugar stage, then squeeze it out and remove it before potting.
- Sugar ratioThree pounds of sugar to two of fruit is by weight, and the fruit is weighed after seeding, so the sugar is measured against the actual pulp and peel you have. Seven oranges and five lemons will give something in the region of 3 to 4 lb of prepared fruit depending on their size, calling for 4.5 to 6 lb of sugar -- weigh rather than estimate.
- Judging "till clear"Clear means the syrup has stopped looking cloudy and the peel has gone translucent. A thermometer is more reliable: 220 to 222F at sea level, or a spoonful chilled on a cold saucer that wrinkles when pushed with a finger.
- The panUse a wide, heavy, non-reactive pan and fill it no more than a third. Marmalade climbs alarmingly as it approaches setting point, and the citric acid will pit bare aluminium or cast iron.
- Oranges to useMarmalade was often made from bitter Sevilles, in season January and February, though American books of the period frequently used sweet oranges and this one does not specify. Ordinary navel oranges will work but give a much milder, sweeter preserve; the five lemons in this recipe are doing a good deal of the work either way.
- Yield and keepingA large batch; the exact number of jars depends on the size of the fruit, so have more half-pint jars ready than you expect to need. Fill hot sterilised jars, seal, and process in a boiling-water bath 10 minutes for shelf storage; otherwise refrigerate and use within a month or two.
Marmalade came into English kitchens as a solid quince paste — the word descends from Portuguese marmelada, from marmelo, quince — and only later attached itself to the citrus preserve now meant by the name. The Home Cook Book was compiled in Chicago in 1874. The book was assembled from contributions by named local women, which is why this is the third orange marmalade in a row and why it differs from its neighbours: each cook sent in her own household proportions, and the compilers printed all of them side by side without reconciling the methods. The whole-fruit boil-and-discard technique here requires no shredding of raw peel and no long soak.