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
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Sterilise the jam jars and put a saucer in the freezer
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Cut the oranges and lemons in half, and then with a sieve over the pan, squeeze the fruit into them
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Using a piece of muslin, spoon the pips and pith from the remaining oranges into it
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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
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Add the peel to the pan with the orange juice. Tie the muslin bag up and add that to the pan
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Add the water, bring to the boil and simmer for about 2 hours or until the peel becomes soft
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Remove the muslin bag and place in a bowl to cool, once cold squeeze it you get all the liquid out
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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
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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!)
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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
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Remove from the heat, and let it cool for about 10 minutes.
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Then add in a generous dram of your favourite whisky and stir well
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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.