Each year I plan to make Seville Orange Marmalade, but I’m never prepared for when the short season comes round. This year I was prepared and no Seville Oranges where to be found! So instead I made ordinary marmalade and added a generous amount of whisky, to liven it up a bit. Marmalade making is a little more time consuming than Jam Making, as I found out. But patience is rewarded by pots of deliciousness to spread on your toast in the mornings.
Whisky Marmalade
Ingredients (Makes approx. 8 x 400g Jars)
1Kg Oranges
1 Lemon
2.5l Water
1Kg Light Muscavado Sugar
1Kg Granulated Sugar
25ml Single Malt Whisky
Method
-
Sterilise the jam jars and put a saucer in the freezer
-
Cut the oranges and lemons in half, and then with a sieve over the pan, squeeze the fruit into them
-
Using a piece of muslin, spoon the pips and pith from the remaining oranges into it
-
Cut the peel into thin strips (or thick ones if you like thick cut), trimming off any excess pith and putting that into the muslin
-
Add the peel to the pan with the orange juice. Tie the muslin bag up and add that to the pan
-
Add the water, bring to the boil and simmer for about 2 hours or until the peel becomes soft
-
Remove the muslin bag and place in a bowl to cool, once cold squeeze it you get all the liquid out
-
Bring the orange juice and peel back to a simmer and pour in the liquid from the muslin bag. This liquid contains pectin which will help the marmalade set
-
Turn up the heat and boil the marmalade to setting point (104C if you have a sugar thermometer – after about 45 minutes if you don’t!)
-
Remove the saucer from the freezer and drop a bit of the marmalade on it, leave for a few seconds and if it wrinkles when pushed with your finger, its ready. If it doesn’t wrinkle, boil for another 5 minutes until it does
-
Remove from the heat, and let it cool for about 10 minutes.
-
Then add in a generous dram of your favourite whisky and stir well
-
Pour into the prepared jars, top with a wax disc and seal tightly
You can use whatever whisky you fancy, but bear in mind if you use an Islay Malt the marmalade will be very smoky. I used a Jura Turas Mara which is a bit of a fruity whisky having been matured in Bourbon, Sherry, Port and French Oak Casks (what a mixture!) so it goes really well with the oranges and the sweetness of the marmalade.
